Accismus
by GallyandBlack
Summary: Accismus – a form of irony in which someone feigns indifference to something he or she desires. Nanako might have pretended she wanted nothing to do with HOMRA, but Mikoto knew better. And he was determined to make her admit what she wanted. {Mikoto/OC}
1. Chapter 1

Nanako picked at her finger nails, taking a glance at her watch before returning her eyes to the door across from her. She was seated in the fire escape directly opposite the back exit of a club she'd already forgotten the name of. She drummed her fingers against the iron grating, impatient to get on with her night.

Her target, Tanaka something, a 5'11" short-haired brunette with brown eyes and a scar above his right eyebrow. His name wasn't really important, she knew his face.

The metal door swung open, and she perked up. There he was, Tanaka whatever, slipping a pack of cigarettes outs of his pocket and strolling away from the door.

Nanako sat up, leaning forward onto the balls of her feet. If he'd just walk a little further, to just below her perch...

He slipped by her, and she jumped lightly over the railing. Her feet hit the ground with a muted thud, and the Tanaka tensed. He turned around, eyes wide, but was met only with the sight of a smooth palm. Then he crumbled.

Nanako's fingers twitched, hand an inch from his face. He'd dropped to his knees as soon as she cast her illusion. A pained groan crawled out of his throat, and her fingers tightened further. She could taste his pulse on her tongue, rising every second. She focused on her cast, looking into the man's conscious as the nightmare ripped through his mind.

That was her curse, or gift as her employers said, to enter someone's mind and pull out their one true fear. To amplify it tenfold and tug on the threads of their sanity.

Her mother called her a demon. As a young girl that had mortified her, but now she smiled. It was an apt title really- she trapped people in their worst nightmares until their sanity snapped or their heart gave out. Usually their heart stopped, but sometimes when she'd pull back their eyes would be wide open, their heart beating but their mind gone. Their eyes were like black holes and that scared her more than a cold body.

Tanaka wheezed and slumped to the ground. She sensed his pulse go flat, and she relaxed her fingers, stepping back. He was dead, and she needed to leave. She pulled out a small black flip phone, snapping a single picture of the body. She went into the phone's contacts, selecting its single address. A few clicks, and the photo was sent.

As she turned on her heel and left the ally, she shivered as she thought of his nightmare. Every illusion she cast, she saw in her mind's eye. Even though she never knew what the dream would be till her power had seeped in and plucked out that one horrible thread from the back of their mind and _tugged_.

She _felt_ their terror and she despised it.

She could hear Tanaka's screams in her mind as he burned to death. Pinned to the floor as the flame crept ever closer, teasing his sleeve before slithering up his arm, burning into his skin. Then further, to his chest, his legs. She could feel the reverberations of his pain in her bones, making them tingle under her skin. He wasn't the first one to dream that, but she still disliked it now as much as the first time she'd created it.

She waited till she two blocks away to smash the phone, tossing it into the nearest dumpster. A few minutes later her PDA pinged, and she pulled it out to see a bank notification. She opened it with tired eyes, noting the correct amount and pocketing the phone.

She hated her job. She hated who she was. But when her only talent was inducing horror, her options weren't plentiful. She needed a way to live, to buy food and pay bills and stay above water.

She'd been told more than once she unsettled people. Again, she thought this was understandable. She'd never been encouraged to pursue the arts of social etiquette, always it had been how far could she go, how far could she throw the mind beyond disrepair.

The bus pulled up just as she reached the bus stop, and she swiped her PDA to board. She sat down in the back, letting out a huff as she pushed back the pieces of black hair that had fallen free of her bun.

Nanako was a strain, and her mother had abandoned her soon after realizing. The first time she'd accidently trapped her mom in a nightmare, the woman had chocked it up to a dream and moved on. The second time it happened, Nanako, even as a small child, had noticed the suspicion and distrust that'd entered her mother's eyes whenever she looked at her. The third time it happened, the time that sent her mother to the hospital for a week, her mom had gone to the Gold King, begging him to take her.

She'd spent her childhood in a lab, playing guinea pig for Mizuchi Kōshi, along with a number of other young strains. Just the mention of the Gold Clan still gave her chills. Her escape had been the culmination of months of careful planning. Throughout her childhood, she made sure to never bring attention to herself, to establish a reliable reputation. As she grew older, she was given more privileges, and after months of patience those privileges gave way to an opportunity to escape. That said, the half dozen Usagi members she'd left in a vegetative state during her dash for freedom had put even more of a target on her head.

She went underground, associating only with those that would absolutely not associate with that cursed clan. Mostly criminals, since the Gold King's influence crept into almost all of the country's legal industries. She'd started doing just information extraction, then slowly escalating to where she was now, a cheap killer, taking hit jobs from low lives to take out men who were even worse than them.

As soon as the bus got to her stop some time later, she dipped into the pocket of her long black coat, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket. In a few sharp movements she had it lit, smoke curling into her lungs.

Her falls of her boots were muted by the wet pavement, making her way home through the dark. She reached the filter on her cigarette, dropping it to the ground and going into her pocket for another.

She'd just lit her second cigarette when the sound of something crashing to the ground drew her attention. Her eyes went to the alley to her left, eyes peering into the dark. She could just make out two people, standing over what she could only assume was a third person. Despite it not having anything to do with her, she slipping into the dark alley quietly, inching closer to the scene before her.

Her assumption had been correct. Two boys, one short and lean while the other was taller and heavy-set, loomed over a man curled up against a dumpster, clearly trying to put as much distance between himself and his assailants.

"I heard you've been pushing drugs to kids in our territory," the shorter boy hissed, and Nanako noticed the metal bat in his hand twitch.

She let out a breath through her nose. Unfortunately, she recognized the man on the ground. He was the third in command of a yakuza group she regularly carried out hits for. He was a piece of shit, but his organization payed half her rent each month and if he died the group would be incapacitated for at least a few weeks. Her bills were due next week, and taxes were due next month. As much as the idea of him tricking kids into doing drugs made her lip curl in distaste, she liked her apartment.

Now, Nanako was capable of defending herself. Part of her years under Mizuchi had been spent learning self-defense and offense. She had a number of knives tucked into her cloths in various different places, and the competence to use them effectively. But it was two against one, and the heavy-set one was notably larger than her. So, strategy in place, Nanako slipped forward. The shadows of the alley concealed her movements, until she was inches away from the taller of the two men.

She leaned forward, passing her hand over his head before slipping back into the shadows. She felt her power seep into his mind, could feel it picking through his brain matter. She knew the moment it found its target, because the tall blond stiffened. She had no intention of killing him, or even knocking him unconscious. She just needed him incapacitated.

The blond fell to the ground with a thud, a first scream tearing up his throat just as he hit the pavement. His hands fisted in his hair, another pained scream coming out of him.

"Stop! Stop!" he cried, rolling on the ground.

"Eh? Kamamoto!"

The shorter boy turned, wide eyes taking in his downed partner before scanning across the alley. He couldn't see much of anything in the dark, but he felt the air shift behind him momentarily. He spun back around, met only with a smooth palm and a flash of dark red eyes.

Nanako's brow furrowed as the boy struggled to stand, mind stronger than she'd expected. She focused her energy, sending a strong wave of illusions through his mind. Finally, he fell to his knees, but Nanako kept her hand in place over his face, not willing to risk him breaking free until she knew he was good and trapped.

Finally, a pained wheeze escaped his throat, and Nanako removed her hand as the first pained sob bubbled out of him. The blond was still screaming, clutching his head desperately. The brunette by her feet cried quietly, frozen still at her feet. She turned, eying the yakuza with distaste.

"Chisaka," he gasped when he finally saw her face, though the men screaming in horror at her feet had been a pretty good indication of who his savior was.

"Get up."

He scrambled to his feet, leaning against the dumpster as he cowered before her.

Nanako scowled, "Get out of here. Tell your boss he owes me a favor."

He nodded, taking off for the mouth of the alley. Her eyes drifted back to the men at her feet, finally letting her conscious delve into their minds. She picked the brunette first, letting her eyes slip shut as she stepped into his nightmare.

She didn't recognize the street they were on, or the dark-haired boy flying at the bat-wielding brunette. She did recognize the blue uniform the bespectacled boy was wearing though, and her back went stiff. With practiced ease, the Scepter 4 member threw a half dozen knives at the beanie wearing boy, each one landing with a sickening wet sound.

One knife ripped the neck of the boy's shirt, causing it to hang open around his collar bones. Nanako bit the inside of her cheek at the familiar flame insignia carved into his skin.

Her burgundy eyes snapped open, eyeing the shivering boys at her feet with new eyes.

"Fuck," she groaned, turning on her heel and running. She just had to go and fuck with the Red Clan.

* * *

"Yata-san! Wake up!"

Yata's eyes snapped open before squeezing shut just as quickly, head pounding and body aching. Pain throbbed from where Saruhiko had stabbed him over and over, and his eyes swept over his dirty cloths, looking for where blood had been seeping through them before. He was met only with the sight of clean cotton, the occasional smear of dirty marring the overwise clean fabric.

"Are you alright, Yata-san?" Shouhei leaned over the vanguard, wrapped a hand around the skater's biceps to help sit him up. Yata cradled his head in his heads, willing the throbbing pain to go away. When he finally forced his eyes fully open, he saw Shouhei staring worriedly down at him. He looked behind him, seeing Bandou and Dewa still trying to wake Kamamoto.

"M'fine," Yata brushed his hand off, staggering to his feet.

"I don't think he's waking up anytime soon," Dewa informed, and Bandou nodded his agreement before taking one of the blonde's arms and slipping it over his shoulder. Dewa mirrored him, and together they hefted Kamamoto up. Shouhei stuck close to Yata, ready to catch him if he lost his footing.

"How'd you find us?" Yata asked, wincing as his head gave a particularly painful throb.

"You guys never came back from patrol last night. We've been looking for you all morning," Shouhei frowned in concern as Yata stumbled, "What the hell happened?"

That's what Yata would like to know. One second, they'd been about to beat the shit out of that low life yakuza, then the next second Kamamoto was screaming then his world went dark.

Yata froze, nearly causing Bandou to crash into him, his grip on Kamamoto slipping for a second.

"Oi, Yata, don't just stop-"

"There was someone there."

They all paused, looking at the vanguard. Yata's fists clenched as he remembered a smooth, pale hand and a pair of unsettling red eyes peering at him through the darkness.

"Someone did this to us."

"Eh?" Bandou reeled back, "Someone attacked you?"

"We need to get back and remote to Mikoto-san," with that Yata set off down the sidewalk at a slightly faster pace. The others shared a glance before following.

Surprised eyes looked up as the door to bar HOMRA was swung open loudly, Yata stumbling forward as he stepped through, though he managed to catch himself.

"Yata-san, seriously don't push yourself like that!"

"Shut up!" he yelled back, the sudden spike in volume making him clutch his head as it throbbed violently.

"What the hell happened?" Kusanagi asked as he came out from behind the bar to help Bandou and Dewa lay Kamamoto down on one of the couches. Yata threw himself down on the other couch, eyes clenched shut.

"They said someone attacked them," Shouhei pipped up, making Izumo frown in concern.

"In our own territory, are you serious?" Chitose growled, refraining from pushing closer to the two clearly uncomfortable clansmen.

Izumo looked down at their vanguard, concern in his eyes, "Did you see their face?"

Yata scowled, crossing his arms tightly, "No."

A groan brought their attention to Kamamoto, the blonde's eyes clenching before opening. A short, horrified cry spilled out of him as he flew up, unfocused eyes looking around wildly.

"Kamamoto-san! It's just us!" Shouhei cried as the blond swung his arm out blindly, almost smacking Bandou.

Kamamoto stopped, breaths heavy and eyes shut once more, one hand rising to clutch his head.

"Head hurts like a bitch, right?"

Kamamoto looked up at Yata, the brunette looking as miserable as he felt.

"Yata-san? What happened?"

"That seems to be the question of the hour," Izumo mumbled, shooing away the members who had clustered around the couches and going back to the bar to fetch the them glasses of water. He'd just put them in his two downed comrades' hands when he heard a door open above him. The sound of heavy boots hitting hard wood echoed through the quiet room. Finally, the door to the right of the bar opened, and Mikoto walked out, eyes already locked on Yata and Kamamoto.

"Mikoto-san!" Yata jumped up, "Someone-"

"I know," the red-head cut him off, sitting down at the bar.

"Oh?" Izumo raised a brow, walking back across the bar and slipping behind the wooden countertop. He pulled an ashtray out from one of the shelves under the bar, sliding it to Mikoto just as he finished lighting his cigarette. The red-head nodded in thanks.

"Did you sense something last night?" Izumo pressed, and Mikoto sighed but nodded, taking a long drag.

"For you to have sensed it, it must have been connected to the Slate. A strain then?" Izumo speculated.

"Most likely," Mikoto drawled back, tapping the ash off the end of his cigarette into the ashtray.

"What strain?"

All eyes swung to the door, where stood Totsuka with Anna gripping his hand. They'd just returned from a walk through the park, to keep the young girl's mind from worrying too much about her then unaccounted for clansmen.

"The one that apparently roughed our boys up last night," Izumo tilted his head to the couches, where Kamamoto sat with his head in his hands and Yata sat fuming.

"What happened?" Tatara asked in concern, letting Anna slip free from his grip to go take a seat at the bar. He walked over to the couch and kneeled beside Kamamoto, brow furrowed.

"It-," Kamamoto stopped talking abruptly, jaw clenching as another wave of pain washed through him. He released a breath through his teeth before starting again.

"It was like the worst nightmare you could imagine, but real and with no way out."

Tatara's brows shot into his hairline at the explanation. He turned to look at Yata, but the skater refused to meet his eye.

"Yata?" he pressed, and the brunette tsked.

"Yeah, something like that."

* * *

Nanako made a point to stay clear of the Red Clan's territory for the next few weeks, even though her apartment was just two blocks outside their territory. She'd had to start taking ridiculous routes home, just to make sure she steered clear. She'd noticed an increase in patrols around the Red Clan's territory since the night she attacked two of its members, and while she was annoyed she couldn't say she was surprised. After all, they were a clan whose bonds ran thicker than blond. An attack on one was an attack on all.

"I'm such an idiot," she groaned, kicking angerly at a dirty piece of newspaper under her boots. She should have scoped out the two more before jumping to cast an illusion over them. Now she had the Red Clan breathing down her neck and that really wasn't something she wanted in her life.

She had another assignment, one she'd made sure was in neutral territory but that still went a little too close to the Red Clan's turf for her liking. She was to take out a man who had been having an affair with the wife of some high up in one of the larger Yakuza groups. She thought it was an absolutely petty reason to have someone killed, but she wasn't one to complain. Work was work.

She was told the man was a low-level employee for a rival gang, and he could be found most nights in one of the VIP rooms in a strip club called Kyandirando. Nanako rolled her eyes every time she thought of the name.

She was hardly dressed for a club, her outfit almost always consisting of her long black trench coat and black utility boots, paired with tight black jeans and a black or grey sweater. For convenience sake, she always kept her hair pulled back in a tight bun, though she could never get the stubborn short pieces from falling forward around her face. She was devoid of any accessories save for her fingers, which were covered in nearly a dozen thin silver rings, covering most her fingers from nail to base. They helped to both conceal and highlight the tattoos that covered her hands and wrapped around her fingers.

She could make out the bright neon sign of the club over the top of a neighboring building, steps quickening as she neared her destination. She'd just go in through the back, slip into the VIP room, and take out her target. She could force his heart to stop in less than a minute, and she would be clear of the building in under three.

She pushed open the rusted back door, emerging in a dimly lit hallway. She could hear the music from the club pounding through the walls, but she ignored it in favor of seeking out her target. She was surprised there were so few people around, not that she was complaining. 'V.I.P', scrawled across a wooden door, caught her attention after she rounded the first corner. She stepped forward, pressing her ear to the wood. She could make out two voices, one low and undoubtedly male while the other was softer, most likely a woman.

Nanako scowled at the prospect of having to take out two targets at once when she was only supposed to have to deal with one, but shrugged it off as she cracked the door open. A large, u-shaped red velvet couch sat in the middle of the room, facing away from the door. In front of it, a small stage with a single, gleaming pole occupied the rest of the small space.

She could see a head of dark hair over the back of the couch, the Ito she was looking for. He was receiving a lap dance from a blond, his attention entirely on her scantily clad body as she sat, back to his chest, grinding down into him.

Well, Nanako thought as she slipped into the room, shutting the door silently behind her, at least it would be easy to sneak up on them. With a flick of her wrist a blade slid out of her sleeve and landed snugly in her palm. Even though it would be easier to cast an illusion over the woman as well, Nanako disliked trapping any one she didn't have to in one of her nightmares.

The first thing she did was slide her hand over the man's face, pumping her aura into him so fast he didn't have time to do anything but gasp as her illusion seeping into his mind. Next, before the blond could turn at the small noise of distress, Nanako pressed the blade to her throat.

"Don't turn around or I'll kill you," the black-haired girl warned, focus half on her target's skyrocketing blood pressure while the rest of her focused to make sure the blond nodded. The girl was shaking like a leaf in Ito's lap, fingers digging into her thighs. Nanako felt bad, even when she pressed the knife harder against the dancer's pale throat when she heard her give a quiet whimper.

"Stay quiet," Nanako ordered, and the blond nodded wordlessly.

The strain focused her attention back on her cast, feeling through her aura pulsing through the man's body as his body reached its limit. His heart beat far too fast, his blood pumping through his veins at lightning speed. He was dreaming of being buried alive, trapped in a tight, dark container with no way out. Though she made sure he was too overwhelmed to make any sounds, in her mind she could hear his agonizing screams as he tried to scratch through the wooden box, ripping off his nails and sending blood curling down his hands and arms.

She felt his heart stutter, and with one last bump of energy it stopped completely. Nanako removed her hand slowly, watching as the color left his face and his frame went limp. Her focus went back to the girl shaking against her blade. Even though the dancer couldn't see it, Nanako's eyes softened.

"If I remove this knife will you make a noise?"

"N-no, I promise!"

Nanako hummed in recognition, slowly pulling back her blade from the young girl's throat.

"Stand up. Walk to the stage and put your hands on the pole. Do not turn around or-"

"You'll kill me," the blond whimpered.

"Exactly," Nanako confirmed, "Now go."

The blond stood up shakily, and Nanako internally marveled at how the girl could walk in those ridiculous heels. The black-haired girl waited until the blond was in place before rounding the couch. She pulled a small black phone from her pocket, snapping a single picture of Ito's body before sending it to the device's one contact. Pocketing the phone again, Nanako walked over to the door. When her hand met the nob, she looked back over her shoulder. The blond had done exactly as she had told her.

The girl's whole body jumped when Nanako called out, "Count to thirty. When you reach zero you can turn around."

"H-Hai."

Nanako waited until she could hear the girl counting quietly under her breath before slipping out the door.

She walked leisurely to the back door, a blood curdling scream filling the air just she slipped back outside.

* * *

"Chitose, I don't want to go."

"Meh, don't be such a kill joy Dewa," the brunette called back, grinning slyly at his partner.

Dewa rolled his eyes. When Chitose said he'd wanted to go to a new bar this Friday night, Dewa hadn't thought anything of it. It wasn't until they were walking there and he realized the only place that sold alcohol in the direction they were headed was a strip club that he dug his heels in and said no. Of course, they were close enough already that Chitose had convinced him they should at least poke their heads in and see the vibe.

Again, Dewa rolled his eyes. Check out the vibe his ass, Chitose was going to be up to his eyeballs in women within the first ten minutes.

Just as they were about to push the door open, movement to their right caught Dewa's attention. A young woman, her features mostly hidden behind the upturned collar of her long coat, slipped out of the shadows of the alley that led behind the club. For a fraction of a second her eyes, darker than blood, landed on him, freezing him where he stood.

A blood curdling scream from inside the club ripped his attention away from her. Chitose rushed inside at the sound, and Dewa called after him, "Hey! Don't rush in, idiot!"

He turned his head to look at the woman again before following his partner inside, but when he looked she was nowhere to be found.

* * *

When Dewa and Chitose had returned to the bar, raving about a yakuza who'd suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack, no one had thought too much about it. It wasn't until they got to the part where they talked to the dancer who'd been with him that their attention was peaked.

"The manager brushed her off as just being over emotional," Dewa explained, "but she said there was definitely someone in there with them."

"Oh?" Izumo asked, leaning forward across the bar, "do tell."

"She said the attacker sounded like a woman, and she held a knife to her throat. Threatened to kill her if she turned around or made a sound," Dewa pressed his lips together, "she said it felt like being in the same room as a Shinigami."

"The poor kid was shaking like a leaf," Chitose added, "I know her boss brushed her off but I don't think she was making it up."

"And there was that woman too."

Chitose lower the cigarette he was about to take a hit of to look at his partner, "What woman?"

"The one that came out of the alley just before that girl screamed. You didn't see her?"

"No," Chitose shook his head, "but what about her?"

"I don't know," Dewa shrugged, "it was just something about her. And she had these red eyes-"

"What did you say?"

All eyes rose to look at Yata, who'd stood from his spot on the couch. In a few strides the vanguard was in front of Dewa, leaning in close, "What did you say about her eyes?"

"T-They were red, almost like-"

"A demon's?" Yata cut in.

Dewa nodded, "Exactly."

"Yata-chan," Izumo cut in hesitantly, not wanting to rile the short-tempered boy, "how did you know to ask that?"

The scowl on Yata's face could peal paint, "The person who attacked me and Kamamoto had eyes like that."

* * *

**So, this came to me randomly one day, and I kind of just ran with it. Or it ran with me really- I've been writing it none stop for weeks now. I think it's got potential, and I really like Nanako. She's an absolute badass! Drop a review and let me know your thoughts!**


	2. Chapter 2

Nanako preferred to go out at night, when the shadows were most welcoming and the laws most lax. Alas, there were times when she needed to brave the light of day.

Her basket was heavy in her hand as she put a carton of cherry tomatoes in, eyes scanning over the rest of the produce to make sure there was nothing else she wanted before leaving the aisle.

She looked in her basket to make sure she had everything she needed- a package of lean beef, rice, a half dozen different vegetables and a few other things- before heading to the check out.

The boy behind the register stiffened when she looked at him, but she ignored his discomfort as she put her items on the counter.

"D-Do you have a bonus card with us?"

Nanako's eyes rose from where she'd been putting a carton of eggs on the counter, "No."

The boy, and he was a boy, probably still in high school if she had to guess, nodded a little too quickly and started ringing up her items. When he was done, she handed him the amount she owed, took her single paper bag full of groceries and left.

She'd only gotten a block or so when her PDA went off in her pocket. The name on the screen made her frown but she picked it up anyway.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Chisaka-san, so lovely to hear your voice."

"Fujikawa," she acknowledged.

"How's your schedule look this weekend?"

"A little busy, but I have time on Saturday."

"Excellent," he purred, and she could see his creepy smirk through the phone, "How would you like to meet a friend of mine?"

This is how it always went. It was too risky to openly order a hit over the phone, or at least she would not risk it and strictly enforced that rule on her clients. So instead, they'd asked if her schedule was open, if she was already scheduled for another job, and then if she would like to meet a friend of theirs's, which meant go to the client to receive the information regarding her next target.

"That can be arranged," she conceded, waiting patiently at a street corner for the light to change.

"Lovely, when should I expect you?"

"Tomorrow night," was all she replied, ending the call right after. She slipped the PDA back into her pocket with a sigh. She hated going to yakuza dens, it always made her jittery. But she refused to have them send the target's information directly to her, in case she was ever taken into custody. If she was found with information regarding a number of what had been declared natural deaths, she knew anyone with half a brain cell would make the connection.

So instead, a few nights before the hit she went to the client, received a folder with information she burned after reading and a disposable cell phone with only their number programmed into it, and that was the extent of their contact save for the untraceable wire transfer she would receive after confirmation of death. It was simple really.

She bit the inside of her cheek as she walked, mind lingering on her situation with HOMRA. While she didn't think the two she encountered had seen her, she didn't know for sure. The one with the bat turned around, but she'd assumed she'd obscured his view fast enough.

She might have just been being paranoid, but in the last two days since the club hit, she thought the Red Clan had become more active along their east border, closest to the strip club.

She was just being paranoid. Besides, none of them had _really_ seen her face. And she was being careful about wondering into their territory. That's probably why she was as surprised as she was when she heard a familiar voice drift around the corner she was just about to take, five blocks from HOMRA territory and not much farther from her home. Nanako's steps paused. She recognized that voice from the night in the alley, belonging to the boy with the beanie. Yata Misaki, she remembered the boy in his dream calling him that. And, she now realized, was known as Yatagarasu, vanguard of HOMRA.

"Oi, we heard there's a strain hanging around the yakuza, carrying out hits for the bosses."

"Do you have any idea how many strains work as mercenaries? It could be anyone!"

"Yeah, but this one's special," a smooth voice she didn't recognize spoke up, "this one traps you in a nightmare."

Nanako froze. How did they know that? Despite being a strain, she put an active effort into avoiding anyone or anything related to the Slates. She knew HOMRA's influence ran deep, especially in their own part of the city, but how the hell did they find her so fast? Her incident with the two HOMRA scouts had been less than three weeks ago. As far as she knew, no other members had spotted her. There's no way they should have been able to find out even that much about her in such a short amount of time.

"I-I, no, I don't know anything about that."

"Oh? You don't sound so sure about that."

"Please, I can't say anything-"

"So, you do know something."

"No! I really don't know anything for sure, only rumors."

"I love rumors, why don't you tell me?"

"Only the bosses actually see her! She comes in once to pick up information about the people they want taken out, then sends a picture when it's done."

"Interesting. Anything else?"

"A-Apparently it's not actually her powers that kill, it's the heart attack brought on by the panic her illusions cause."

"So she what, scares them to death?"

"Exactly. I've seen what people look like when she doesn't kill them too. They're alive but it's like- like their bodies are empty."

Nanako swallowed thickly, thinking of the dozens of pairs of lifeless eyes she'd looked into the times when their hearts hadn't stopped, when she'd just robbed them of their sanity and left their minds hollow.

"This is all a bit concerning," the unknown voice drawled, "does this mysterious woman have a name?"

"I don't know her name, I swear! I just know that some people call her the Karito."

"The Reaper? How terrifying."

The voice trailed off after that, and the next voice to reach her ears was the skater's.

"Kusanagi-san, what do you want to do with him?"

"Eh? Let him go, I think he's learned his lesson about getting too close to our territory, and besides he gave us good information."

She heard scuffling, and a second later a man came running around the corner, barely avoiding knocking into her.

She heard footsteps as the two HOMRA members left, presumably back to their base. Nanako counted to 100 in her head before rounding the corner, letting out a breath of relief when they were out of sight.

A few meters ahead, she could see a narrow alley, and assumed that was where they'd conducted their short interrogation. She'd heard them walk away, but she still approached the alley with caution, shifting the weight of her groceries in her arms. Upon peering around the corner, she let out a sigh as she stepped into the narrow passage. Telltale scorch marks marred the brick walls, and Nanako frowned. This was exactly why she didn't want to fuck with the Red Clan- they were always more informed than you thought and as dangerous as you expected.

Her head tipped back, her eyes closing in irritation, "God, I'm such an idiot. Always leaping without fucking looking."

"That so?"

Nanako spun, and froze at the sight of a tall, handsome blond wearing dark sunglasses smiling dangerously at her. He fingered a lighter in his right hand, the slight movement making her nervous.

"Who are you?" she hissed.

The blond smirked, and suddenly a half dozen fireballs jumped out of the small flame and came hurtling towards her. Her groceries scattered across the alley floor as she jumped back. She was so focused on the attack coming at her from the front, she let her rear-guard slip.

She saw a shadow rise behind her out the corner of her eye, and she whipped around. Above her and hurtling towards her at an incredible speed, was the beanie wearing skater she'd trapped just a few weeks ago. His bat glinted in the light that made it down between the buildings, and as they locked eyes she could see his thoughts clear as day. Recognition, followed by surprise, followed even faster by burning rage.

She raised her arm, pushing energy to her hand, but he was on her before she had a chance. Nanako could only freeze, tensing her body in preparation for the hit.

"God damn it."

Her world went black.

* * *

Nanako jerked awake, immediately aware she was in a bad situation. Her coat and knives were gone, and she was sitting in a hard-wooden chair, her wrists tied together behind her, and each of her legs tethered to a leg of the chair. Her eyes were uncovered and her mouth wasn't gagged, but her main focus was on the pulsing agony in her skull. It felt like she'd been hit by a bus, and she made a mental note to be warier of bats the next time she encountered one.

"I see you're awake."

Her head snapped up, looking at the three men in front of her. Her eyes swept across the room quickly, realizing she was in what seemed to be a storage room, though only a handful of crates cluttered the otherwise empty room. She noticed scorch marks on the floor, and she swallowed thickly.

"Oi."

Her red eyes snapped up, once more taking in her captors. The one scowling at her was the brat Yata who'd hit her so hard, and she recognized the blond next to him as the one who had distracted her so his clansman could get close enough. Both eyed her suspiciously, bodies tense and ready to jump if she moved. The third man, another blond, was much calmer. His brown eyes smiled at her, despite the neutral expression he wore.

"Rumor is you've been causing trouble in our territory," the tall blond looked down at her, "and we don't take well to people causing trouble."

Nanako pressed her lips together.

"You."

Nanako went rigid as a familiar metal bat swung an inch short of her chin, eyes looking at the short brunette. His eyes spit fire at her, but she made sure to keep her face blank.

"You fucked with my head," he growled, teeth grinding together so hard she could hear it, "now I'm gonna fuck with you."

"Easy Yata-chan," the other blond soothed, and the chestnut-haired teen calmed down, lowering his bat.

"Whatever," he bit.

"Yata? As in Yatagarasu, HOMRA's vanguard?" she asked. The pride that filled his face was as palpable as it was immediate, and despite the situation she couldn't help but poke fun at him, "I assumed you'd be taller."

"_What did you say_?" he seethed.

His attempt to launch himself at her was interrupted by the tall blond in sun glasses, "You really shouldn't provoke him like that."

She sneered, "I've never been good at taking orders."

"Easy now, if you're not careful around a flame you might just get burned," he glared, taking a familiar lighter out of his pocket.

"Neh, neh, Kusanagi-san, we should hear her out first, don't you think?"

Nanako looked at the cheery blond smiling at 'Kusanagi', not trusting his sunny disposition for a second. If she was correct, then this 'Kusanagi' was Kusanagi Izumo, second in command and the clan's staff.

"Ah, alright," Kusanagi sighed, putting his lighter back in his pocket, "Now, you attacked two of our boys for no reason. You're either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid for going after members of HOMRA."

"Believe me, I wouldn't have touched them if I knew they were from a clan," she spat, putting particular venom behind the word 'clan'.

"Oh? Not a fan?" Kusanagi asked.

"Clans are more powerful than they should be and more trouble than they're worth," she huffed, tugging at the rope binding her wrists tightly.

"You do realize the situation you're in, no?" Kusanagi asked, one blond brow raising in question.

But instead of straightening out at the reminder she was at the mercy of the clan she was so freely dismissing, the black-haired woman's face got even more hostile, "There's nothing you can do to me that will be worse than the hell I'll send you to if I get out of these ropes."

Yata roared, dropping his bat in favor of jumping the strain with his fists. Tatara reached for the enraged brunette, but before he could do anything Yata had already dug his fist into the girl's cheek.

Nanako didn't make a sound as the shock from the punch made the pounding in her head almost unbearable and her teeth sunk into her cheek, filling her mouth with the coppery taste of her blood. When the pain lessened, she opened her eyes, glaring daggers at the brunette.

"You hit like a woman, Yata _Misaki_," she spit out the blood sitting on her tongue, finding her mark on the toe of his sneaker.

Yata froze, his face growing redder as he seethed. He bent and retrieved his bat, taking a step forward, but a hand on his chest made him pause.

"Get out of the way, Totsuka-san."

"Just hold on a second," he replied firmly, and after a second Yata straightened, although none of the anger left his face.

"Are you determined to be a pain in the ass or something?" Kusanagi muttered.

Any further talk was cut off by the door opening, and Nanako shuddered as a heavy presence filled the room. Her eyes swung up, and her breath hitched as a tall red-head entered the room. She didn't have to guess who he was, the amount of power rolling off of him was unmistakable. His hair and eyes matched the stories, but they failed to mention how much heat radiated off him, his entrance immediately raising the temperature of the room by a few degrees.

Nanako stiffened as he made a beeline for her, her heart hammering in her chest by the time he stopped just a few steps shy of her knees. His face as he looked down on her was apathetic, but his eyes burned with slight irritation. Despite every nerve in her body screaming in protest, she met his eye and refused to look away.

"She hasn't said much save for doing a wonderful job of pissing off Yata," Izumo chuckled, surprised the girl was brave enough, or stupid enough, to hold Mikoto's eye so long. Her face had gone smooth, all previous attitude gone. Mikoto was regarding her blankly, taking a long drag of his cigarette.

"Why did you attack members of HOMRA?"

His voice was deep and rough, like he didn't use it very often. It made her back snap straight, fear creeping into her for the first time. She didn't want to give up information on her client, she couldn't. If they found out she had given information to HOMRA, they'd never hire her again. And god damn it, they were one of her best customers.

Mikoto saw her flinch for less than a second, so slightly that if he hadn't been looking right at her he'd have missed it. Her dark red eyes were blank, giving away nothing.

He frowned, the action making Nanako clench her fists behind the chair as the temperature in the room spiked instantly. His eyes showed clear irritation now, and slowly he took one of his hands out of his pocket. Sparks began to crackle around his fingers, and Nanako made a decision. She had other clients, she'd pick up a few extra jobs here and there. Either way, it wasn't worth dying here, burned alive by the Red King.

"Why did you attack members of HOMRA?" he asked again, and for the first time Nanako broke his gaze, eyes locked on the sight of the flames now circling around his wrist.

"The man your men were about to beat the shit out of was an important associate of one of my best clients," her eyes went back to his, "It was a business decision really. Nothing personal."

His eyes narrowed, "It was a bad business decision."

To the surprise of everyone in the room, she let out a quiet but noticeable snort of amusement, "Yes, I realize that now."

Izumo actually let out a short chuckle at that. The balls on this kid were incredible. His eyes slid over to Mikoto, who's hand still burned steadily. Slowly, Mikoto brought his hand up till it was eye-level with the girl, the ravenette instinctually leaning back in her chair to avoid the heat.

"Who's your client?"

"Mori Hayate."

Mikoto's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise, and Kusanagi let out a low whistle.

"Mori's a big name in the yakuza. A real piece of work too," Izumo drawled.

Nanako pursed her lips slightly, pushing down the urge to roll her eyes, "He's a scum bag."

"You don't sound very fond of him," Tatara finally piped up, "why go through all this for him?"

"Like I said," she shrugged the best she could with her hands tied, "he's one of my best clients. I might not like him, but I can talk to him for as long as it takes to collect a client file, which isn't long."

"He's not an easy man to find," Mikoto cut in, eyes taking on a gleam she immediately decided she didn't like.

"You see him often?" he asked, and Nanako hesitated before nodding.

A smirk curled his lips, and at the same time the flames went out in his hand.

"You owe us," he stated bluntly, and Nanako flinched.

"And unless you want to burn, you're going to pay us back."

* * *

Tatara cut her free, and Nanako rubbed her tender wrists as she listened to the blond chat freely.

"I'm happy you'll be working with us. Mori's been using our land to get drugs to schools for a while now. Thing is, we can't seem to find him. It's really been eating at King, a lot of neighborhood kids have ended up ODing recently because of it."

Yeah, that sounded like Mori, she thought bitterly.

"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice," she grumbled. She spotted her coat and knives sitting on one of the crates across from her, and she reached it in just a few long strides. She resecured her knives first, one in the holster on her right wrist, another in her boot, two in the inside pockets of her jacket, and one longer dagger in the waistband of her jeans at the small of her back. As she picked up her long coat, shaking it out, she didn't realize Mikoto's eyes had zeroed in on the hilt of the tanto in her jeans. The intricate gold detailing on the handle was a dead giveaway.

"You serve the Gold King?"

Nanako paused in shrugging into her coat, but finished pulling it on after a moment.

"Only members of the Usagi have blades like that," Mikoto further pressed, and he heard her huff before she turned on him, face blank except for an annoyed tick in her jaw.

"I am no Usagi," she grit, "the one this knife belonged to didn't need it anymore, so I relieved him of it."

"You stole it," Izumo chuckled, giving the girl a small smile.

Nanako shrugged. The gold clansmen whose knife she'd took was one of the men who had tried to block her escape from the hospital. She'd taken his mind in anger, leaving the man a breathing corpse. She wasn't lying when she said he didn't need it anymore.

"Call it what you want," she shrugged.

When she pushed open the door, Nanako paused as a dozen sets of eyes immediately turned to burn spitefully into her. She raised a brow at the open hostility, turning and giving the Red King an unimpressed look.

"I can already tell this is going to go great," she drawled sarcastically, and Mikoto ignored her as he went and took a seat at the bar. Yata shot her a vicious look for antagonizing his king, but Nanako ignored him.

"Everyone," Tatara called cheerily, bringing everyone's attention to him, "our new friend here is going to be helping us for a while! So no fighting, or…"

Nanako blinked when he paused and looked at her, "What's your name?"

The ravenette just gave him a dry look, lips remaining sealed. That is, until she felt a tug on her coat, and looked down to see a pair of wide red eyes, like hers but brighter and kinder, staring up at her.

"Mizuchi," she said quietly, and Nanako stilled instantly at the mention of his name, "hurt you too."

Nanako dropped into a crouch, bringing herself eye level with the light girl, "You were taken by Mizuchi Kōshi?"

The little girl nodded, and Nanako's breath hitched. She knew immediately the white-haired girl was a strain, there was no other way she could have known about Nanako's previous affiliation. The girl was so young, and Mizuchi had been dead for years already. She had to have been so young when he hurt her. The thought made Nanako's chest ache in a way it hadn't in a while.

"I'm sorry," Nanako held out her hand, and the little white-haired girl slipped her smaller hand into hers, "that he hurt you."

"I'm sorry too," she whispered back, gifting the dark-haired strain with a small but genuine smile.

"What's your name?" Nanako asked.

"Kushina Anna."

Nanako gave Anna's hand a gentle squeeze, "I'm Chisaka Nanako."

The room had gone quiet as the two strains leaned in close and spoke, surprise hitting them when Anna not only took the girl's hand, but when the previously hostile woman softened noticeably and introduced herself.

Mikoto especially eyed her with a new interest. Anna had said the girl had been taken by Mizuchi at one time, and the red-head knew what a sick bastard the man had been. If he had hurt her half as bad as he had Anna, then Chisaka's attitude at least made some sense.

"So, your name's Chisaka Nanako?" Izumo called from his spot behind the bar.

Nanako stiffened instantly, rising back to her feet with a dark look on her face. She leveled him with a glare,

"Don't use my name too lightly. You'll attract the wrong kind of people."

Nanako smoothed her coat, heading for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mikoto called.

Nanako turned, face twisted in annoyance, "If you didn't want me to leave, you should have left me tied up. Now, I have a business meeting, and I'm already late."

"Nanako."

Said girl froze, looking back over her shoulder at Anna.

"You'll come back, right?"

Nanako's face didn't change, but her eyes softened, "Yes. I don't have much of a choice really."

* * *

**Here's part two! I would love to hear everyone's thoughts!**


	3. Chapter 3

Nanako almost couldn't believe she was doing this. Her boots barely made a sound as she made her way to bar HOMRA, breaking her own policy about wandering around during daylight hours. She didn't think she had ever been so compliant in her life, but one thought of the power that rolled off the Red King like water and she cut herself a break. Shizume, especially the parts of it she frequented, were under HOMRA's thumb. Short of fleeing the city entirely, there's no where she could hide they wouldn't find her.

Her eyes scanned the streets warily. One of the main reasons she didn't venture out much during the day was because even after all these years, the Gold Clan was still looking for her. She could count on one hand the number of times she'd actually run into the Usagi, but each time she could distinctly remember the panic that had threatened to consume her the entire time until she got away. She'd off herself before she let them lock her away again, and that sentiment extended to those asshole Blues too.

"Well would you look at that, I didn't think you'd actually show."

Nanako glared at Izumo, who smirked at her from behind the bar as she emerged through the door. She ignored him in favor of looking around the room. The Red King was nowhere in sight, but by the energy thrumming through the building he was around here somewhere. Yata was glaring at her from the couch, two others she still hadn't learned the names of sitting in one of the booths. The heavy-set man she'd met the same night as Yata was also there, sipping at a glass at one of the small tables. Her eyes went to the bar, seeing Totsuka on one of the stools, and next to him-

"Anna," Nanako almost smiled, giving the young strain a soft look. The little silver-haired girl slid off her stool, her mary janes clicking lightly against the floor. Nanako dropped to a squat as Anna reached her, allowed her lips to quirk up slightly now that her face was less visible to everyone else in the room.

"I brought you something," she said, and Anna's eyes widened in excitement. Nanako reached into the pocket of her long coat, pulling out a long red ribbon. It was made of a fine, soft silk and had lacy scalloping along the edges, the bright red color shining clearly in Anna's eyes.

"Pretty," Anna breathed, small hand reaching out to run across the ribbon.

"It's yours," Nanako placed the ribbon in Anna's hand, closing her little fingers around it gently, "it'll look beautiful in your hair."

"Thank you," Anna gave her a small smile, warming Nanako to her toes. The black-haired girl nodded, rising back to her full height as Anna dashed back to Tatara to show him her new ribbon.

Nanako approached the bar, eyes daring the smiling bartender to say anything on what he'd just seen.

"Well," he coughed, looking at the silently beaming Anna, "at least someone in the clan likes you."

"Tell me exactly what you want me to do," she stated bluntly, leaning against the bar with her arms crossed, "I have a busy few weeks ahead of me and I want this debt to you settled quickly. Do you want me to kill Mori? Bring you his head in a bag?"

Tatara let out a choked sound of surprise at her statement, while Izumo stared at her with wide eyes.

"That seems a bit extreme," Izumo finally replied. Nanako scoffed, rolling her eyes at him.

"My normal methods then? I'll induce a heart attack and send you a picture of the body when it's done?"

"Um," Izumo blinked. She wasn't the first mercenary he'd spoke to, but she was much blunter then those he'd encountered before, "no, that won't be necessary."

"Then what the fuck am I here for?" she scowled.

"HOMRA will take care of Mori."

All eyes swung to the stairs, a chorus of greetings filling the air as Mikoto entered the room. His eyes were boring into Nanako, but she only glared at him.

"Again. Then why am I here?" she growled.

"Mori Hayate has hide outs scattered across the city. Every time we manage to find one, he's moved on to another," golden-amber eyes locked onto the strain glaring at him, "you will take us to him."

Nanako scoffed. Clearly, they didn't know much about Mori Hayate. Stellar client or not, they certainly weren't friends. She didn't know where he was every second of every day, only where and when he would be when she went to pick up her next assignment from him. The guy was slipperier than an eel.

Mikoto sat down, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He pulled one out, lighting it with a metal lighter. Nanako's retort died on her lips at the sight, her eyes swinging to the bartender.

"Can I smoke in here?"

Izumo raised a brow, "Be my guest."

In seconds a pack of cigarettes was out of her pocket and a cigarette was between her lips. She went digging back into her pocket for a lighter, but froze when she saw a hand enter her field of vision. Izumo snapped his fingers, igniting the cigarette. She blinked at him, and the corner of her mouth twitched up involuntarily.

"That's certainly convenient."

Izumo, despite the wariness that still colored his judgement of the girl, smiled at her rare display of something other than annoyance.

"We've got our good points."

Nanako pushed down the urge to smile at him, instead forcing her face to go blank, taking a deep drag of her cigarette as she turned back to the Red King. Her body relaxed as the nicotine flooded her body.

"Mori's not that easy to get close to," she finally said, flicking the ash on the end of her cigarette into the ashtray Izumo put on the bar top, "he has his men meet me at a location close to but separate from the actual hideout. They blindfold me then walk me there."

"Then we could follow you the next time he calls you for a job," Izumo suggested, leaning his forearms on the bar. Seeing his relaxed posture, Nanako finally sat down in one of the bar stools instead of leaning against the bar top.

"I wouldn't recommend it," she shook her head, taking another drag before responding, "Mori might enjoy my methods, but he doesn't trust me. He always sends at least ten men to meet me, two of which are usually officers and one of which is always a strain with strong sensory powers. Plus, they always bring enough firepower to bring down an elephant."

"If you were to follow me, in all likelihood the strain would sense you and a shootout would break out. If I managed to slip away without getting my neck snapped Mori would still hear about my indiscretion and he'd never call on me again," she sighed, tapping the ash off her cigarette again.

"What do you propose then?" Izumo asked, and Nanako's eyes flickered to Mikoto before returning to the blond.

"We find out when he's moving between hideouts, and hit him then when he's most exposed."

"How would we figure that out?" Izumo questioned, tensing in surprise when a smirk took over the girl's face.

"I have an idea about that."

* * *

The warehouse she'd brought them to looked practically abandoned, most the windows boarded up and graffiti covering the walls.

"Where are we?" Izumo asked, watching as Nanako made her way to a large sliding metal door.

"I told you, I'm taking you to one of my informants," she called back over her shoulder.

She'd taken Izumo, Kamamoto and Bandou to meet one of her informants who could help them take care of Mori. She wouldn't give them much on who she was taking them to, had only warned them that under no circumstances should they reveal themselves as members of HOMRA.

"He's more distrustful of clans than me," she scoffed, "if he found out who you were he'd shoot you on the spot."

It was for that reason that Nanako had firmly said neither Mikoto or Yata could go. Mikoto's aura was too recognizable and Yata would blow their cover with his ridiculous clan pride. She'd made all of them take off any signs of their affiliation, much to their protest. She'd offered to go see her informant on her own if they were so opposed to her conditions, but Izumo had made it clear she was still not trusted enough to do such things alone.

As soon as she pulled the sliding door open, a bullet ricocheted off the wall right next to their heads. The HOMRA members jumped back with a curse, but Nanako plowed ahead into the dark warehouse.

"Hey, Okamoto, cool it!"

"Is that you Chisaka?" they heard a voice call out.

"Yes, it's me. Now put that gun down before you shoot yourself."

Izumo looked into the warehouse, watching as Nanako approached a short, dark-haired man. The man, who'd dropped the gun he'd shot at them with, was situated behind a long table covered in guns of all different types and sizes. Automatics, semi-automatics, hand guns, all of different makes and brands littered the surface in front of him. Izumo had to lock his hand on Kamamoto's shoulder to stop him from bursting out at the sight of so many illegal, because there was no way they were anything else, weapons.

Good god she'd taken them to an arms dealer.

"What can I do for you oh mighty Karito," Okamoto drawled with a teasing grin on his face.

Nanako gave him an unamused look, "I'm collecting on that favor you owe me."

Two delicate black brows went up in surprise, finally locking on the three men making their way over.

"I didn't know you have friends, Chisaka."

"I don't," she bit back, "they're clients."

"Ah," he nodded, smiling at them and gesturing to the table, "I assume you're here to look at the merchandise then? I'll give you 10% off anything you pick since you're with Chisaka."

All Izumo could think was that if Mikoto was here he'd lose his shit. The red-head hated guns almost as much as he hated the Blue King. Instead, he gave Okamoto a slightly strained smile and shook his head,

"We're not here for that."

"They have business with a mutual friend of ours," she smirked, and Izumo watched as the dark-haired boy walked around the table in interest.

"Which one?"

Nanako pursed her lips, already knowing he wasn't going to react well, "Watanabe Sanji."

Okamoto's eyes blew wide, "Watanabe Sanji? As in _Mori Hayate's_ lieutenant Watanabe Sanji?"

Nanako propped her hip against the table, "Yup."

Okamoto sputtered, "No way. If I fuck with Watanabe, it's guaranteed to get back to Mori. And I'm not doing that because Mori is half my monthly profit."

"And?"

"_And_? You seriously expect me to fuck over the kind of guy who buys fifty automatic rifles a month? That's not the kind of guy who you fuck with Chisaka!"

"I'm not asking you to fuck with or over anybody," Nanako replied calmly, "All I want is for you to call me the next time Watanabe comes to make a pick up."

Okamoto's mouth snapped shut, his eyes narrowing, "That's it?"

Nanako nodded again, picking up one of the handguns to examine it, "That's it."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, "Don't forget you owe me."

Okamoto froze, a chill shooting down his spine, remembering exactly who he was talking to. She'd never done anything violent towards him, and had helped him more than once, but he'd seen her in action. He'd heard how the people trapped in her illusions screamed. No matter how well he thought they got along, she was no one to fuck with.

Plus, he really did owe her a favor. When he'd caught the attention of the Blues a few months ago for selling to a strain, Nanako had thrown them off his scent as well as made sure he was free of any obligations regarding said troublesome business associate. He had yet to make it up to her, and she asked him to actually repay those favors so infrequently he knew he couldn't refuse.

"R-Right, well then, when he calls me to schedule another pick up, I'll let you know."

Nanako pushed up from the table, giving him a nod, "I'll speak to you then."

She turned, meeting Izumo's eye and nodding to the exit. She breezed by him, and Kamamoto and Bandou went with her, though Izumo paused when he realized Okamoto was smiling.

"She's absolutely terrifying," he shrugged, smile still firmly in place, "but she's never done wrong by me. You're in good hands."

Izumo blinked in surprise, then nodded with a smile before heading out.

When he got outside, he saw Nanako smoking a cigarette, looking off while Kamamoto and Bandou stood a good distance away. Well, he couldn't blame Kamamoto for being so wary, after all he'd had the misfortune of being trapped in one of the girl's infamous nightmares. Still, the gentle way she handled Anna and the smile Okamoto gave her as she left made him pause. It seemed the menacing woman wasn't nearly as fearsome as she let on.

That aside, she had still attacked Yata and Kamamoto, she was still an assassin and a threat to the clan. She may be helping them, but she'd made it clear she did not enjoy their company and that she was simply repaying a debt. With that in mind, he still eyed her warily as he walked over.

"Are you sure this will work?" he asked, and she gave him a dry look.

"Yes, Watanabe will contact him within the week. We stake the building and tail him when he leaves."

"And what good will tailing him do exactly?" Bandou asked.

Bandou stiffened when her dark red eyes landed on him, something about her making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Nanako exhaled smoke from her lungs, regarding the brunette. He eyed her with open distrust, not that she blamed him really.

"The odds of spotting Mori are slim. He rarely goes to business meetings himself anymore unless they're important or involve another boss. Instead, he primarily sends either Watanabe Sanji or Abe Hiroyoshi, his number two and three."

Nanako paused to take a hit of her cigarette, "If we tail Watanabe, in all likelihood he'll lead us to Mori. If for some reason that doesn't work, we can detain him and I can question him."

She raised a brow slightly at Bandou, "Do you disagree with my logic?"

"I-I, no," he replied, looking away.

Nanako, more than used to people being so uncomfortable around her, nodded and looked to Izumo, "And you?"

"Can't say I do," Izumo conceded. Her plan put HOMRA closer to Mori than they'd ever managed so far.

She nodded, her gaze distracted by the sun setting over the top of the building. She needed to get on her way to Fujikawa.

"I assume you can get home on your own," Nanako turned abruptly on her heel, leaving them behind as she headed east.

"And where are you going?" Izumo called.

"I have a meeting. I'll call you when I hear from Okamoto," she called back, raising one hand in a sign of farewell as she disappeared around a bend.

* * *

It was almost a week before anyone in HOMRA heard from Nanako, and many had thought she'd ran. Surprisingly, it was Anna who countered their claims, stating in her quiet way that the mysterious strain would be back in due time.

It was just after the lunch rush when Izumo's phone went off. He frowned when he saw it was an unknown number, but picked up the call anyway.

"Hello?"

"Kusanagi-san."

"Chisaka," he put down the clipboard he'd been holding, leaning his hip against the bar, "we were starting to think we wouldn't hear from you."

Mikoto's eyes rose from his glass at the sound of Nanako's name, meeting Izumo's eye as the blond continued to speak to her.

On the other end of the line, Nanako scoffed, "I told you I don't like being in debt to people. I won't disappear until our business is settled."

"Yes well," Izumo smiled, "what news do you have for us."

"Okamoto called me, Watanabe is coming in to pick up a shipment tonight at midnight. I'll arrive before they do and wait for them to leave, then tail them back to base."

"Sounds fine," Izumo nodded, "meet us here before you go over."

"Kusanagi-san, it'll be much easier if-"

"If you do this on your own? Sorry Chisaka-san, but that's not gonna happen."

"What do you think I would do," she growled, "give you an incorrect location of their base?"

"Maybe," Izumo pulled a cigarette out of the pack he'd left on the counter, "you said yourself he's one of your best clients. It would make sense you'd want to protect him."

He paused to light the cigarette, listening to the sound of shuffling on the other end of the line.

"Whatever," she finally bit, and Izumo smiled despite himself, imagining the annoyed scowl on her face, "I'll be there at eleven."

The line went dead, and Izumo slipped his PDA back into his pocket.

"You trust her."

Izumo looked up, raising a brow at the look on Mikoto's face.

"Trust is a bit too strong," the blond shrugged, "but I believe she's a woman of her word."

Mikoto sighed, taking a long drag of the cigarette between his lips. Woman of her word or not, she was still a pain in his ass.

When Nanako arrived at the bar that night, conversations dropped in volume but didn't cut off altogether, which she thought was an improvement.

The sound of mary janes drew her eyes to Anna as the young girl hurried over to her, taking Nanako's hand in both of hers. Nanako blinked, looking into the girl's wide eyes, softening despite herself.

"Hello Anna," she didn't quite smile, but the corners of her mouth softened. Anna gave her a soft smile in return, pulling her to the bar.

"Good to see you Chisaka-san," Tatara smiled at her, and Izumo nodded in greeting as well. Nanako's eyes fell on the Red King, who eyed her openly but said nothing.

"So," Izumo put down the glass and rag that had been in his hands, giving Nanako his full attention, "I assume the plan hasn't change?"

She went about pulling out her pack of cigarettes and lighting one as she nodded, "Yes. I'll take you and the two who came with us before."

"And Yata."

Her red eyes flew to Mikoto's burning gold orbs, almost balking at the stubborn look in them but forcing herself to stare right back.

"Absolutely not," she shot back.

Izumo actually grinned as the two glared at each other. He didn't think he knew anyone who so adamantly refused to put up with Mikoto's shit.

"Yata is loud, and his pride for your clan colors his judgement," she leveled, "we're going for the sole purpose of observing and following Watanabe. The last thing we want to do is draw attention to ourselves."

The look Mikoto gave her could peel paint, but Nanako didn't budge.

"I understand HOMRA is used to doing things more directly, but I assure you my strategy is sound."

Mikoto looked at the black-haired girl. Her gaze was steady on his, her posture straight. She brought her cigarette to her lips, taking a drag before raising a brow. He had to admit, her plan was solid, and he couldn't deny what she'd said about Yata was true. But he was the king, and he wasn't about to stand down in front of someone who only a handful of his clansmen could even tolerate.

"Yata's going with you," and with that, the red-head pushed to his feet and left, disappearing up the stairs to the right of the bar.

Nanako fumed. What a prick.

"Well, the Red King has spoken," Izumo said with a grin, "looks like we'll be working with five instead of four this evening."

Nanako gave him a scathing look, but said nothing.

* * *

Nanako didn't like this. There were too many of them, and they were going to get caught. She had taken the HOMRA boys to Okamoto's warehouse, picking the lock on the abandoned building across the street with a good view of the warehouse's front door. They were situated on the roof of the building, a slight breeze blowing over them. Watanabe and his men had arrived about twenty minutes ago, half the men following the lieutenant into the warehouse while the other half waited by the van they'd arrived in. Any minute now she knew they'd reemerge from Okamoto's, pulled a dozen black cases behind them.

"What the fuck are we waiting here for?" Yata growled, pacing back and forth.

Bandou and Izumo were sitting against the half wall next to Nanako, watching Yata with amusement.

"Because they haven't left yet," Nanako replied calmly, eyes never leaving the warehouse door.

"No shit," he snarled back, "but we could break in there right now and take them down, no problem."

"Maybe," she replied, "but violence is not the wise choice here."

"Why? Scared?" he sneered.

Nanako narrowed her eyes, shooting Yata an unimpressed look over her shoulder, "Okamoto has enough firepower in there to supply a small army. And we're outnumbered more than two to one. If you run in there halfcocked, you'll get shot. We all will."

Yata froze, stuttering. He opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of the heavy sliding metal door of the warehouse caught their attention. Nanako watched as Watanabe walked out, followed closely by a string of men lugging heavy black cases.

Okamoto's dark head of hair appeared out of the building, and he shook the man's hand as the rest of the men loaded the cases into the back of the large van.

"Get ready," she said, making a bee line for the door on the other side of the roof. Yata shouldered past her as she opened the door, making her click her tongue in annoyance. She heard a low chuckle behind her, looking back to see Kusanagi smiling.

"He's always eager," the blond chuckled, "besides, this case is a little personal for him. He knew one of the kids who overdosed on Mori's product a few weeks ago."

Nanako blinked in surprise, looking back down the stairwell in thought.

"Keep him in line," was all she said as she started down the stairwell.

When they got to the ground floor, Yata was looking out the cracked front door, and outside they could hear the van starting up and voices fading as the yakuza got into the vehicle. The skater shuffled forward as the sound of the truck rolling forward reached their ears, but Nanako's voice cut him off.

"Wait."

Yata felt the last of his patience snap. This bitch had the balls to tell him what to do, especially after the shit she did to his head. Every night since she'd trapped him, he'd found himself in the same nightmare she'd trapped him in all those weeks ago, each one just as vivid as the first time. He hadn't had a full night's sleep in weeks, he kept seeing the face of that nice kid he'd been teaching how to skateboard every time he looked at those bastard yakuza, and she _was getting on his last nerve_.

Nanako stiffened in surprise as Yata turned on her, face absolutely venomous.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do, you fucking monster."

Nanako's stomach bottomed out. _Monster_.

Yata slipped through the door, taking off after the van. Kamamoto called out for him to wait, slipping out the door after him with Bandou hot on his heels. Kusanagi paused on his way out after them, eyes on the tight look on Nanako's face.

"Chisaka-san?"

Her red eyes snapped to his, and for a second, he could have sworn they were full of a deep sorrow, but then he blinked and they were blank.

"I told you to keep him in line."

With that Nanako disappeared out the door, and Kusanagi let out a sigh before following.

Their mission started well. The four of them tailed behind the van in a small car Kusanagi had brought while Yata took his board and skated about a block ahead of them. They were heading toward the docks, she noticed, but before they could get close enough to see their final destination, the sound of gun fire caught their attention.

Izumo took the corner Yata had just disappeared around tight enough to throw all the occupants to the side, and as soon as they made the turn they could see people hanging out of the van they were tailing, guns in hand. Yata dodged between the bullets with skill, bat in hand. But every time he got close enough to hit the van, he'd have to duck back to avoid being shot.

"For fuck's sake," Nanako growled. She'd been sitting in the front passenger seat, and threw the door open as Izumo continued to speed towards the van.

"Oi Chisaka-san, what the hell are you doing?" Kamamoto stammered, leaning forward in the back seat.

"Now that they've spotted us, we can't let them get back to base. If they do, Mori will put it together that Okamoto had something to do with it, and I promised I'd keep him out of this," she peered back over her shoulder, eerie red eyes shooting fire, "my informant is not dying over people like _you_."

They all stiffened at the insult, but any retort was cut off as Nanako swung herself up onto the roof of the car.

"Holy shit," Izumo cursed as she launched herself forward, making their car's roof groan dangerously. He saw a knife slide out of her sleeve, and she dug it into the roof of the van to stop her momentum as she landed on the vehicle. He saw the van swerve upon her impact.

Nanako cursed as bullets flew up at her through the roof of the van, ripping through the metal like a knife through warm butter and missing her by inches. She was definitely getting shot tonight, and it was all fucking HOMRA's fault.

She slid forward till she was crouched just behind the windshield. She pulled a second knife out of her pocket, saying a silent prayer before jumping forward. The windshield shattered completely upon meeting her boots, and she refused to even let herself blink as she swung her knives towards the two people in the cab. The one in the passenger seat she caught in the side of the neck, but the driver she only hit in the shoulder. The man in the passenger seat let out a choked gurgle as his mouth and throat filled with blood, hands clawing at his throat uselessly. The driver let out a shout as pain shot through his body from his shoulder, and Nanako cursed as he pulled a hand gun out of the inside of his jacket. When he raised it at her, the muzzle was only a few inches away from her nose.

She ducked to the side, feeling her one eardrum burst as he pulled the trigger a half inch shy of the side of her head. Ignoring the ringing in her ear, she pulled the knife from his shoulder, ignoring the urge to gag as it released a stream of warm blood across her front, and dug it into his temple.

Yata, who'd fallen back when he saw Nanako crash through the windshield, gaped as the van suddenly swerved, crashing into a light post. He ground to a stop a few meters away, hearing Kusanagi break hard not far behind him.

"Yata-san!" Kamamoto called, running up beside the skater, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, eyes not leaving the mangled van.

"God damn it," Izumo growled, striding towards the van, "Chisaka!"

Before he could reach the van, the sound of glass being crushed under heavy boots met his ears, and a second later the black-haired strain came crawling through the shattered passenger side window. Izumo caught her as she stumbled pulling herself out, eyes taking in the many cuts covering her body, the blood coating his hands instantly. To his great concern, he saw blood slowly trailing out of her right ear.

"I'm fine," she mumbled, shrugging out of his hold as she steadied herself on her feet, "Watanabe's in the back."

Upon hearing that, Yata went to the back of the van, yanking the double doors open. The next thing he knew, his nose was smashing into the pavement and the sound of a gun going off echoed in his ears. He rolled over, seeing Nanako's one hand clutching her side, blood pooling over her fingers, while the other gripped onto the van door in a white-knuckled grip. Bandou dove past her into the back of the van, and he heard shouts and thumps before the noises stopped. A second later, the sunglass wearing HOMRA member reappeared, dragging an unconscious Watanabe behind him.

"Chisaka-san? Chisaka-san!" Izumo jumped forward as the girl's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her knees buckled, catching her just before she hit the ground. His eyes went to Yata still sitting on the pavement, eyes blown wide and mouth open. Seeing he wasn't going to be of any help, the bartender turned to Kamamoto.

"Call Totsuka, we're gonna need help here."

* * *

**And that's a wrap! I'm happy everyone seems to enjoy this story! From here on, Nanako's gonna start getting closer to the members of HOMRA, so yay! Please leave a review and tell me what you thought!**


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Nanako regained consciousness, she shot up. She gasped as pain ripped up her side, so strong it made it hard to breath.

"Fuck," she cursed, lifting her shirt to see her side. It was tightly wrapped under a thick layer of bandages, though she could see blood had started to seep through the cotton. Smaller bandages dotted her body from head to toe, and Nanako groaned as memories of their botched attempt at tailing Watanabe back to Mori's hideout flooded her mind.

She swung her legs over the edge of the couch she'd been sleeping on, shivering as her bare feet met the cold wood of the floor. She noticed that she wasn't in her own cloths as well. She'd been changed into a pair of sweatpants that were too big, and a men's tank top that hung down her thighs. Her breath caught slightly in her throat.

She never spoke about it, not that she had anyone to talk about it with really, but she was extremely self-conscious of her body. Not because of her weight or figure, but because of her skin. Mizuchi had used to hurt her, badly. He claimed it would help strengthen her powers, telling her that her powers were linked to her emotions. For years, he'd brutalized her, all for the sake of 'bettering' her. As a result, scars covered almost every inch of her body. Some were small, others long, some of them smooth while others were jagged.

To help cover them, she'd started getting tattoos not long after she escaped from the Gold Clan. By now, black ink covered almost every inch of her body. It did the job of hiding her scars from afar, but she knew if you looked close enough or actually touched her skin, they would be more than apparent. If they had changed her and saw to her wounds, they had seen her scars. The thought made her feel sick.

There was something else that made her nervous as well. She knew she was in bar HOMRA, even if she hadn't been in this particular room before. They had brought her here and she had been unconscious for who knows how long, a dangerous move on their part.

When Nanako was awake, she was constantly keeping a tap on her power. When she used her abilities, she kept it contained to her hands. But when she was asleep, she was forced to let that control slip. When she was sleeping, her power came leaking out of every pore in her body and wrapped around her like a deadly cloak, and anyone who got too close was at risk of being trapped in her illusion. Nanako hadn't slept in the same room as another person in years because she was so afraid of accidently hurting anyone.

Well, it seemed HOMRA had broken every one of her boundaries while she was unconscious.

A hush fell over the bar as Nanako appeared at the bottom of the stairs, one hand resting on her bandaged side while the other gripped the banister tightly.

"Chisaka-san, you shouldn't be up!" Tatara scrambled up, but a cool look from the strain sent him back into his seat.

"How long have I been out?" she asked, shuffling over to the bar, sitting down heavily next to Anna. The young silver-haired girl looked at her with open concern, and Nanako gave her a soft look.

"A little less than twelve hours," Izumo offered her a cigarette from his pack, and though she gave him a wary look she still took one, also accepting the lighter he held up for her a moment later.

"What happened to Watanabe?" she asked as she took a deep drag, almost groaning as the nicotine flooded her system.

"He's in the back room," the bartender replied, brow furrowing in concern as he saw how she was favoring the side she'd been shot in, "Are you sure you're alright to be walking around right now?"

When they'd brought her back to the bar last night, Izumo had been more than a little worried by the amount of blood coming out of her many injuries. He'd immediately told Tatara to get his first aid kit, the cheery blond being the best at first aid out of all of them. As Izumo had slowly peeled her bloodied cloths off so they could reach her injuries, he'd been surprised by the amount of ink on her skin. She was covered from her collarbone to the tops of her feet in black ink, not a single colored tattoo on her. But then, as he'd been helping Tatara clean her wounds, he'd realized their purpose. The seemingly endless amount of scares that covered her body only became obvious to him upon touching her, the tattoos otherwise doing a very good job of camouflaging them.

When they'd lifted her shirt to see the bullet wound on her side, a clean through and through he'd sighed in relief, he saw Tatara freeze.

"Kusanagi-san," Tatara had said lowly, fingers reaching forward to skim across the deep, jagged scar that stretched from between her breasts to just below her belly bottom, like someone had tried to gut her.

"I know," Izumo had replied, cutting Tatara off. While they'd shooed the other boys off to the other side of the room as they treated her, they could still hear them. And if the tattoos covering her were any indication, Chisaka really didn't want people knowing about her scars. And after taking a bullet for one of their boys, he'd respect that wish.

Blinking back to the present, Izumo almost smiled as Nanako gave him a look that could peel paint, still wisely choosing to shut up.

"Has he said anything yet?" she asked, frowning when Izumo shook his head no.

"Stubborn piece of shit," she muttered. She'd been shot on her right side, and her right arm remained close to her side as she slowly pushed herself up. Izumo's eyed her side warily, momentarily distracted by the large snake that started at her wrist and wrapped all the way up her arm, the head just over the crest of her shoulder. It was an impressive tattoo, extremely detailed and no doubt the result of hours of work. The entirety of the top of her right hand, which was pressed over her wound, showed an intricate sun, a number of other small tattoos covering her fingers. Still, distracted or not, he couldn't stop himself from letting out a sound of protest as she stood back up.

"Hey, Chisaka-san, you seriously need to take it easy!"

"Shut up," she growled, left hand, covered by an evil eye tattoo, gripping the bar like a life line as she started towards the small side door she remembered led to the room they'd questioned her in. She assumed Watanabe would be there as well.

While she'd been unconscious, Bandou and Kamamoto had told the boys about their attempted tail. How Chisaka had incapacitated the yakuza essentially single-handedly, and how she'd taken a bullet meant for Yata. While many of the HOMRA boys were still wary of her, she'd certainly earned some brownie points for protecting Yata. In fact, no one had been more anxious while she was unconscious than the young skater. If he hadn't been out on patrol right now, they were sure he'd been yelling at the girl to stop being so reckless.

Now, as she stumbled towards the room where Watanabe was, clearly still barely able to walk, a few of the HOMRA boys shot to their feet, shouting their concerns.

"Hey, Chisaka," Kamamoto cried, walking to her quickly and looping an arm around her waist, "you'll open your side again if you keep this up!"

"Let me go," she hissed, squirming against his hold. Much to her mortification though, she was in no state to shake him off, and the tall blond tightened his grip on her.

"I don't think that's the best idea," he grinned, and Nanako looked away with a huff. Despite her displeasure, she leaned her weight into his side, letting out a tight breath as some of the ache left her side.

The bell above the bar door rang, and everyone turned to see Mikoto strolling into the bar. A chorus of greetings sounded across the room, but the red-head had his narrowed eyes on the young strain woman fidgeting in Kamamoto's grip.

"Go back to bed," he said immediately, boots echoing as he crossed the room. Nanako scowled at him, shooting him a look when he reached her.

"You've had Watanabe for 12 hours already and you haven't gotten him to say anything. I'm going in there because _clearly_ none of you know anything about information extraction," she growled, finally managing to shove Kamamoto off with an elbow to his ribs, almost falling as her full weight pressed into her injured side. With determined steps, she started towards the back room.

A hand on her arm stopped her though, and she almost dug her nails into Suoh's annoying face as she turned on him.

"Get your fucking hands off me," she spat, yanking against him hold. His grip only tightened though, the look in his eyes showing he clearly wasn't amused.

"Go back to bed," he repeated, and if Nanako had any of her knives on her she really would have stabbed him in the eye.

"No. Now _let go of me_."

Despite his eyes narrowing dangerously, he released his grip on her arm, and Nanako yanked her arm back to her side. Around them, the members of HOMRA were all shocked stiff that someone would have the balls to talk to Mikoto like that, let alone actually get him to do what they wanted.

"Kamamoto," Nanako looked back at the heavy-set blond.

"Yeah?" he blinked in surprise.

"Take Anna for a walk," she replied, "or whatever, just make sure she's not close by."

With that, the black-haired girl opened the door to the back room and slipped inside, shutting the wooden door behind her.

A hearty laugh brought everyone's attention to Kusanagi, and the bartender grinned, "The balls on that kid are incredible."

Mikoto scoffed in clear annoyance while a few quiet snickers left some of the other members.

"We should probably go watch her," Izumo said, turning his eyes to Mikoto, "no?"

The red-head nodded, his golden eyes falling to Kamamoto, "Get Anna out of here."

"H-Hai, Mikoto-san!"

Nanako pulled a chair up in front of Watanabe, sitting down heavily. The man was unconscious, tied up much the same way she had been all those weeks ago, his short cropped black hair sticking to his skin awkwardly and his body showing clear signs of abuse. His one eye was swollen shut and his bottom lip was split, and he had what looked to be burns across his exposed chest. Nanako huffed, annoyed by the entire situation.

"Hey," she reached forward, patting his face a few times, "get the fuck up Watanabe."

The man groaned, his head bobbing as he slowly came to. She heard the door open, and she looked over her shoulder to see Mikoto and Izumo slipping into the room. She pursed her lips- ideally, she liked to do this alone. Alas, she was in HOMRA's base, they could watch her work.

Slowly, Watanabe's head came up, and Nanako watched as he blinked groggily a few times before finally seeming to take in where he was. Immediately, his dark eyes went wide at the sight of her.

"Oh god not you," he stammered, "please god not you."

"Sorry Watanabe," she gave him a dull look, "but no can do. I heard you've been uncooperative."

"N-No," he stuttered, pulling futilely at the ropes binding his wrists, "I didn't mean to be."

"Oh?" Nanako leaned forward, ignoring the ache in her side, "Then you don't mind giving me the full list of Mori's safehouses, and his schedule for moving between them."

"I can't," he shook his head, wide eyes on her, "You know how Mori is, if I tell you he'll-"

"Kill you?" Nanako raised an eyebrow, "What do you think I'm going to do to you?"

A shudder shook the man's body. His eyes flickered past her to the two HOMRA members watching silently, before going back to her.

"I don't know why you're working with them, but if you let me go I'll tell Mori you were forced and that it wasn't your idea! He'll forgive you, you're his favorite contract killer he'll forgive you for the sake of business at the very least!"

Nanako winced at his words, not wanting to see the looks on Mikoto or Izumo's faces.

"Give me a list Watanabe," she said lowly, flexing her fingers on her left hand, causing the joints to crack loudly. The sound alone made a small whimper escape the normally vicious man.

"Please Chisaka," he whimpered, "please don't do this to me."

"Sorry," she shrugged, "no list, no mercy."

With that she raised her hand till it hovered a half inch from his face, and she sent a wave of her aura up her arm till she felt it seep out her body. She let her eyes drift shut, feeling as her energy crossed the short space between them and seeped under the yakuza's skin. She felt it crawl into his mind, picking through his subconscious until it found that string and _tugged_. Watanabe stiffened.

Then he screamed.

Izumo winced, understanding why she'd told them to get Anna out of the building. The screams coming from the yakuza were bone chilling. Watanabe's eyes had rolled back into his head, sweat immediately covering his face. Nanako sat still with her eyes closed, seemingly completely unaware of the man screaming in front of her. Her fingers flexed slightly, and Watanabe practically convulsed.

"God," Izumo muttered, voice barely audible over Watanabe, "what a terrifying power."

Suddenly, Nanako's hand went slack, and Watanabe jerked forward, gasping like he'd been drowning.

"The hideouts Watanabe, tell me where they are," Nanako demanded.

"P-Please, no more, I can't-"

She cut him off by pumping her aura into him again, pulling him right back into the nightmare. Delving into his mind, Nanako watched from afar as the man was torn apart by vicious beasts, crazed eyes watching as the beasts dragged away his limbs and tore open his gut, pulling his organs out of his body and gnawing on them in front of him. She knew he had to be in agony.

She walked closer, knowing the beasts attacking him weren't even aware of her presence.

"I can end this Watanabe," she called, crouching down so he could see her.

"Please, I'll do anything," he sobbed, another blood curdling scream escaping as a beast tore one of his arms clean off, "Please make it stop!"

Stepping out of his mind, Nanako's eyes opened. She relaxed her hand, cutting off the energy she was pumping into him. He came to, sobbing uncontrollably.

"_Tell me Watanabe_," Nanako hissed, leaning in till she was almost nose to nose with the yakuza.

"Okay," he cried, "I'll tell you! Please just, no more, I can't take it anymore."

"It's okay," she shushed, "just tell me and I'll make it all go away."

He spilled the location of every base Mori had around the city. The list ended up coming in at exactly 23 bases, much to the surprise of the two HOMRA members. They'd only managed to locate about a dozen on their own.

"He's at the base on Ōku Street, near the docks. He's moving on Monday, to the base on Nami Ave, between Cherī and Kaeru street."

Nanako nodded, looking over her shoulder to make sure the two HOMRA boys had noted everything he'd said.

Izumo nodded, and Mikoto didn't react but she could tell he'd been listening.

"That's good Watanabe," she soothed again.

"Please, I told you what you wanted to know, you said you'd let me go if I did."

"No I didn't," she immediately replied, making him blanch, "I said I'd make it all stop."

"Oh god, no don't-"

Nanako brought her hand up, covering his face. Through the gaps in her fingers, his petrified brown eyes looked into her red ones. This time, she didn't stifle the power of her aura, pumping her full strength into his body till she felt it consume his mind entirely. She felt his heart rate skyrocket instantly, his pulse on her tongue a frantic tempo. Her fingers flexed and relaxed, and under her Watanabe began to convulse. A sound somewhere between a gag and a sob bubbled out his throat, and in the next moment, she felt his heart stop. She waited a moment to be sure, then pulled her hand back, opening her eyes and leaning back in her chair.

Her entire body ached, and her head was pounding, and she knew using her illusion for so long when she was in her current state was a mistake. She clenched her eyes shut, taking a deep breath, and held the breath in for a few moments before releasing it slowly. Her eyes slid open, and she almost jumped when she saw Mikoto in front of her. He was looking down at Watanabe, hands in the pockets of his jacket and a cigarette between his lips, back to her.

She looked over her shoulder, spotting Izumo in the same spot as before, a contemplative look on his face. To her surprise, her throat tightened as she remembered this was the first time either of them had seen her use of powers. Her horrible, retched powers.

She let her gaze fall to her hands, eyes tracing the familiar lines of ink. Her head was swimming by this point, and she slumping forward slightly. She fought the urge to cradle her side, not wanting to show how weak she was right now.

"I need to get home."

Izumo's eyes snapped to Nanako as she rose clumsily to her feet. She swayed, catching herself and pulling herself as straight as she could with her side. He stepped forward immediately, his voice calling out in concern,

"As if, sit back down."

Nanako tsked and ran her hand through her hair.

"Where are my clothes," she stepped forward, her ankle immediately giving. She sucked in a breath as she looked around for something to grab. To her surprise, a large hand wrapped around her bicep, catching her weight easily. Her eyes rose to the Red King, finding his amber eyes on her and his hand on her skin. She blinked slowly.

"I need to get home," she repeated, making Mikoto's eyes narrow. She felt his grip tighten slightly before relaxing.

"No."

Nanako would have scoffed if she didn't think it would make her side feel like it was burning any more than it already was. She wanted to tell him to fuck off, but she couldn't gather the energy to say it. Knowing she had seconds before she passed out, she muttered quietly,

"I need to feed my cat."

Mikoto wrapped his arm around her waist as her eyes rolled back and her knees buckled. The corner of his mouth quirked up for a second as he looked at the strain, resisting the urge to chuckle at her final comment.

"Mikoto," Izumo called, and Mikoto looked over as the blond walked over to him. Through his tinted sunglasses, Mikoto could see Izumo eyeing the girl.

"She really is full of surprises," Izumo commented. She looked much less threatening asleep, and compared to the chilling energy that normal radiated from her, she looked almost peaceful. Expect for the fact that her face was scrunched in pain, a sheen of sweat on her forehead. Izumo glanced at the dead yakuza next to them.

He didn't think it had been necessary for her to kill him, and more so he thought she should have clarified that with them beforehand, but he could easily understand her thinking. After all, she was the one going against a former, very dangerous client. The fact that she'd want to burn all bridges back to her was logical, if not a little cold.

Still, she'd managed to get more information about Mori in fifteen minutes than they'd managed in months. She'd gotten them to Watanabe in the first place as well. And with all that in mind, Izumo couldn't help but think she was growing on him.

"Seriously," he chuckled, "wanting to leave in that condition to go feed her cat of all things."

Mikoto grunted in response, eyes still on the girl in thought.

"She's dangerous Mikoto," Izumo stated bluntly, not being one to beat around the bush. Mikoto didn't say anything to that, but his chin dipped in acknowledgement.

Izumo sighed, slipping his hands in his pockets, "But I think she means well."

Mikoto bent slightly, sliding his other arm under her knees and sliding the one around her waist to her shoulders. He lifted her easily, holding her comfortably.

"I think you're right."

* * *

**Oh Nanako, always getting herself into trouble (sigh). I know this was a little shorter, but next chapter will make up for it! You'll get a better look at who Nanako is outside of her profession, and how the HOMRA boys feel about learning more about the kind of person she really is. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, so please drop a review so I can hear your thoughts! Till next time!**

**Gally**


	5. Chapter 5

The second time Nanako woke up in bar HOMRA, she was notably less panicked. Still, it took her a few moments to remember where she was, not used to waking up anywhere that wasn't her own bedroom.

She was on a wide couch, with a soft pillow under her head and a warm blanket wrapped around her. She heard a door open somewhere behind her, and a few moments later Tatara appeared in her vision.

He had what looked like bandages and some towels in his hands, and she assumed he had come to check on her injuries.

The blond paused when he saw her eyes open, and she was surprised by the bright smile he gave her despite looking her in the eye, an experience she had been told more than once was more than a little unnerving.

"I'm glad you're awake," Tatara said cheerily as he set the items he was holding on the table next to her. His hand went to her forehead, and Nanako stifled the noise of contentment she almost let out. It had been a long time since anyone had taken care of her, and though the feeling of someone touching her normally made her stiffen, she could have purred.

"How long have I been asleep?"

She almost didn't recognize her own voice, hoarse from days of disuse.

"Just shy of three days," he replied easily, though it made Nanako's eyes widen in shock.

"Shit," she pushed herself up on her elbows, biting back a groan as it stretched her side. Immediately gentle hands were lowering her slowly back down.

"Hey now, you're still in no condition to be going anywhere," Tatara chided, adjusting her pillow under her.

"Why are you taking care of me?"

Tatara's light brown eyes drifted to her dark red ones, noting they were full of suspicion. He thought it was odd she was still so distrustful of them after all the weeks they'd been working together, but then again, he assumed she hadn't trusted anyone in a while.

"Because you're hurt," he replied.

"And?"

He smiled at that, "The injury you're recovering from you received protecting one of our boys."

"A boy I protected because I'm trying to pay off my debt to your damn king," she tried to push herself up again, but she froze when fire shot up her side from her injury.

"_Fuck_," she hissed, falling back awkwardly. Her eyes swung up in a glare at the chuckle Tatara gave in response.

"Here," he offered her his hands, "I need you to sit up so I can check your injuries anyway."

It pained her to do it, but slowly Nanako gave him her hands, and together they maneuvered her till she was sitting with her feet brushing the floor, upper body leaned comfortably against the back of the couch.

"I'm just going to push your shirt up so I can get to your bandages," he warned, rolling up the soft cotton of what she noticed was a different shirt than the one she'd woken up in three days ago and still not her own.

"Where are my clothes?" she questioned, biting her tongue to stop from squirming as the blonde's fingers skimmed her side.

"We washed them and sent them to a tailor. They were torn to shreds," Totsuka hummed back, carefully unrolling the bandages from around her torso. When he finally pulled them away from her, he noted that, despite the ugly black and purple bruises that stretched from her ribs to her hip, the actual bullet wound was much smaller than it'd been just the day before.

"I heal fast," she told him, noticing his surprised look. It was one of the reasons Mizuchi had been able to be as cruel to her as he was- even the worst of wounds healed in just a few days for her.

Having nothing to say back to that, Tatara nodded and began carefully cleaning the wound. Neither said anything for a while, and it wasn't until he was wrapping a clean bandage around her that Nanako blurted,

"Thanks."

Totsuka gave her a smile that could put the sun to shame, "Of course!"

"I want to go downstairs," Nanako grunted, pushing herself to her feet as soon as Tatara finished and pulled her shirt back down.

"H-Hey! It's really not good for you to be moving around so soon-"

"I'm going whether you help me or not," she cut off, giving him an unimpressed look.

Seeing there wasn't anything he could do to change her mind, Tatara quickly wrapped his arm around her waist when she stumbled to her feet.

"You know Chisaka-san," the blond smiled as he opened the living space door and began guiding them towards the stairs, "you remind me a lot of King."

Nanako practically ripped herself away from the grinning blond at that, fire burning in her eyes.

"_I'm nothing like him_," she hissed, glaring at Tatara despite the sunny look he continued to give her. She swatted his hand away when he reached for her, leaning her palm against the wall for support as she limped to the stairs.

"See? You're both as stubborn as rocks, you both hate accepting help from others, you both smoke like chimneys-"

"_Shut up_ Totsuka-san."

"-and you both try to hide what you're feeling except when you're annoyed!"

Nanako made a noise of disbelief as she reached the first step, not bothering to look back at the blond she knew would follow her anyway.

"And most importantly, you're both terrified of your powers hurting others."

The black-haired girl froze, her entire body going rigid. Tatara worried he'd gone too far when she didn't move for a solid minute, seconds away from apologizing when he heard her tsk.

"I'm nothing like him."

With that, Nanako continued her slow hobble down the stairs, leaving Totsuka blinking in surprise. A small smile curled his lips, and he shook his head as he started after her.

The bar was empty save for Izumo, Mikoto and Anna, but all eyes went to the stairs as Nanako stumbled down the last few, grip white knuckled on the banister and panting lightly.

"Chisaka-san," Izumo called, concern on his face, "what are you doing up so soon. I didn't even know you were awake."

The black-haired strain fairly growled as she moved to the bar, pulling herself up jerkily, "Don't fucking coddle me."

The tapping of mary janes against the wood brought her attention behind her, and the scowl melted off her face as Anna hurried over to her, pulling her small body onto the stool next to the older strain.

"Are you alright Nanako?" Anna asked, leaning forward till she could put her hand on the other girl's forehead.

The corner of Nanako's lips went up against her will, her chest warming at the young girl's concern.

"I'm fine Anna, don't worry about me."

Anna didn't look convinced, but she pulled her hand away and sat down in her stool.

"I'm surprised you're up so soon."

Dark red eyes rose to look at golden amber ones staring at her from down the bar.

"I'm tougher than I look," she replied, her eyes drifting to the lit cigarette between Mikoto's lips. She heard someone chuckle, and she turned her head to see Izumo offering her his pack. She blinked, then nodded as she took one.

"Thanks."

Izumo nodded, a smile on his face as he snapped his fingers, lighting her cigarette. Nanako leaned back, eyes slipping closed as she took her first drag. Breathing so deep made her side ache, but the nicotine seeping into her bloodstream made it worth it.

She ran a hand through her hair, realizing it'd come loose at some point. Her hair went nearly to the small of her back, and even thought it wasn't very practical she just couldn't bring herself to cut it off.

"How's the side feeling?" Izumo asked, picking up a stem glass and beginning to dry it with a clean rag.

"Like I got shot," Nanako replied dryly, and to the side Mikoto let out a snort of amusement.

Izumo coughed, changing the subject, "Well, your cloths will be ready to pick up today."

A spark of interest entered the strain's eyes at that, "Is it close by?"

"Just down the street," Izumo nodded.

Immediately Nanako pushed to her feet, "I'll go now then. Then I'll head home."

"No."

Nanako's eyes swung down the bar, glaring at the red-head looking at her blankly over the burning end of his cigarette.

"Don't care," she shot back, turning from the bar and beginning to make for the door.

"Chisaka-san!" Tatara called, "at least let one of us come with you."

"I'm fine," she waved him off. The blond still stood up though, hands rising to support her as he noticed her favoring her side.

"Hands off," she bit, but it didn't have half the normal venom they'd become accustomed too.

Tatara did as she said though, and his hands dropped back to his sides.

"Chisaka-san," Totsuka tried to reason, "it's really not safe to go walking around like-"

He was cut off by the bell above the door ringing, and Nanako looked over to see Yata staring wide-eyed at her. He didn't say anything, just kept staring, and after a few seconds Nanako began to get annoyed. Her mouth pulled down in a frown, and she raised a brow,

"What?"

Yata jerked into focus again at that, and he looked away with a slight flush on his face.

"Nothing."

Nanako rolled her eyes and looked back at Totsuka, "I'll be fine. Just tell me where the tailor is."

"You're leaving?" Yata blurted, and Nanako looked back at him.

"Yeah, got an issue?" she goaded. Nanako was actually surprised she said it; she didn't normally go out of her way to antagonize people. Something about the skater just made her temper rise.

Yata frowned, but didn't rise to the bait. He saw the way she was heavily favoring her side, and the various bandages he could see covering most of her exposed skin said otherwise. She was still wearing Eric's sweats and Kusanagi-san's shirt, and her hair tumbled around her like ink.

"I'll make sure you get home," he said, and he saw her eyes widen slightly in surprise. Meeting her eye still made him shudder, but he did it anyway.

"Thanks, but no," Nanako frowned. Not him too.

"I'm not asking," Yata growled back, and Tatara could literally see Nanako's hackles rise.

"And I didn't realize I stuttered," she hissed back.

Izumo watched with amusement as the two immediately began to provoke each other. He could see Yata was well intentioned, but the two just didn't seem to mesh well.

"I think that's a good idea Yata-chan," Izumo called out, making the vanguard's attention snap to him.

"Totsuka," Izumo called next, and Tatara looked over with a smile, "Why don't you go with them to make sure nobody gets killed."

Tatara laughed, but nodded anyway, "No problem."

"I said no," Nanako scoffed, ready to just shoulder Yata out of the door and march out, when the sound of a chain jiggling made her freeze. Her eyes went to Mikoto as the red-head stood, walking across the room with measured steps until he was just in front of her. Nanako met his eyes as fearlessly as ever, and he admitted to himself he liked her spirit.

He bent down slightly, the smoke of his cigarette tickling her nose.

"They'll walk you home or I will."

Nanako's eyes narrowed into slits. Fucking bastard.

"Whatever," she scoffed, turning on her heel and walking to the door. She pushed past Yata and opened the door. She paused before she stepped out though, turning and giving Yata an irritated look.

"Hurry up," her eyes slid to Tatara, "you too."

With that she disappeared out the door. Yata followed after her with a growl, and Tatara grinned.

"Well they certainly get along well," he said cheerily, and behind him Izumo rolled his eyes as the blond disappeared out the door as well.

"Idiot."

Nanako's apartment was less than a half mile from the bar, and after they took a detour to pick up her repaired cloths, they made it to hers quickly. The building she lived in was an old brick walkup, and she unlocked the door to her second-floor apartment without looking at either of the HOMRA members.

"Nori-chan," Nanako called immediately, stepping into the main room. Within seconds a bundle of fur came hurtling at her. The calico cat yowled loudly as it wrapped itself around her ankles. Nanako reached down and picked up the cat, stroking it softly.

"I'm so sorry I left for so long," she murmured quietly, scratching the cat's chin.

Behind her Tatara and Yata wandered forward into her apartment. Both of them were surprised by how welcoming the space was, considering its resident's general disposition. The white walls contrasted with the dark wood floor, and two large windows opposite the entry hallway let plenty of natural light into the living room. A small open kitchen and a small dining table stood to their left, and to the right was a small hallway they assumed held the bedroom and bathroom.

There was a large book shelf between the windows, and a tv was mounted on the wall opposite. It overlooked a soft looking black leather couch and loveseat centered around a thick red carpet and wooden coffee table. Plants covered the windowsills, and she'd hung windchimes over the windows. Candles covered most the flat surfaces, and colorful modern art pieces dotted the walls.

It was modern and cozy and not at all reflective of Nanako as far as Tatara or Yata knew.

Nanako turned back to them, cradling the cat in her arms. Yata froze at the sight of it and Tatara let out a noise of surprise. It's left ear was completely missing along with its left eye, but its fully intact right eye, bright and green, peered curiously at them.

"What happened to him?" Tatara asked, moving closer to the animal slowly. Nanako didn't tell him to back off, so he reached out a hand. The cat sniffed his fingers then rubbed his face into his hand. Tatara smiled and began to scratch behind his one ear.

"A bunch of drug addicts robbed a gang member's house. I was hired to get their stolen items back before they were pawned and teach the robbers a lesson."

Nanako frowned, cradling Nori closer, "They had Nori-chan in a cage. They'd get high and throw fire crackers at him."

Tatara's face fell even more at the story, looking down at the cat purring happily as he scratched his chin.

"I knew I couldn't leave him," Nanako shrugged, making Nori meow. Tatara couldn't help but stare as she actually smiled down at the small creature.

"Why Nori?" Yata asked, and he blushed when Nanako's for once soft eyes rose to him.

"When I first brought him home, he didn't trust me a bit. The only way I could get him to come out was by bribing him with nori crackers."

Tatara chuckled, and Yata actually smiled at her.

Nanako carried Nori over to the kitchen and put him down on the counter. The calico sat watching her excitedly as she hobbled around the kitchen preparing his meal. She put the cat bowl down on the floor next to his water bowl, which she picked up to refill.

She looked back to the living area, seeing the two boys still standing by the door.

She rolled her eyes, "You can sit down."

She put the now full water bowl down, giving Nori's head a stroke as she slowly straightened back up. Her side was aching from walking so long, and her head was pounding with a vengeance.

"Chisaka."

Nanako looked up at Yata's call, seeing him looking at a painting on the wall instead of her, a slight blush coloring his cheeks,

"You look like shit. Go lay down."

The ravenette scowled at him, but after a second began walking across the room towards her bedroom with a huff.

"I'm going to shower," she paused in her steps, looking back over her shoulder at them with a glare, "Don't fuck with my cat."

Yata sputtered and Tatara laughed, waving her off, "Don't worry about us, we'll take good care of Nori-chan."

Nanako gave them an unconvinced look before disappearing down the hall. They heard her shuffle around in her bedroom before ducking across the hall into the bathroom.

Tatara sat down on the couch, positively beaming when Nori came trotting across the room and jumped up next to him, rubbing his face into his thigh. The blond began to stroke the happily purring cat, looking up at his clansman. Yata still stood in the middle of the room, looking around.

"What's wrong Yata-chan?" he asked, making the skater jump slightly.

"It's just," Yata let out a huff of frustration, "she's not what I thought she was."

Tatara smiled comfortingly at him, "That's not such a bad thing though, is it?"

Before Yata could reply, a loud crash came from the bathroom, making Nori jump off the couch in surprise and go skittering across the room. In seconds Yata was flying across the room.

"Chisaka-san!"

Yata threw the bathroom door open, but almost threw himself back into the hall instantly.

"The fuck?" Nanako roared, throwing a towel at the chestnut-haired boy.

"S-Sorry!" he stuttered, looking at Totsuka desperately as he hurried over.

"Chisaka-san? What was that noise?" Tatara popped his head into the bathroom, seeing Nanako sprawled awkwardly on the floor, shirt off and bandages coming loose from her torso. She shot Tatara an acidic look.

"Why the fuck did you tie the knot in the back?" she growled, and Tatara frowned in concern as he knelt down next to her.

"Did you hit your head?" he asked, eyes firmly on hers as he helped her stand back up. Nanako huffed at how respectful he was, ignoring the throbbing in her side. She'd been trying to reach behind her to undo the knot in her bandages, twisting her torso awkwardly, when a shot of pain so intense it knocked the breath out of her and sent her knees out from under her went shooting through her body. She'd cursed loudly as she crashed into the tile floor, knocking her head against the wall in the process. Not three seconds later Yata had kicked the bathroom door open, and here they were.

"I'm fine," she grumbled, even though her head was swimming. Tatara clearly wasn't convinced, taking her robe off the hook on the back of the bathroom door and slipping it around her shoulders. Nanako pulled the black silk robe tighter around her frame, grumbling a thank you under her breath.

"No, you're not," he frowned, "I don't think you should be on your own for at least another few days."

"What are you going to do, move in with me?" she bit sarcastically, but stiffened when a light suddenly appeared in the HOMRA member's eyes.

"No, but you should move in with us!"

"Absolutely not," she replied immediately.

"Not forever, just until you're all healed!"

"No."

"But it makes sense! You just bashed your head trying to take a shower, you shouldn't be here alone!"

"I said no, Totsuka-san," she growled, but the blond ignored her.

"I'll go check in with Kusanagi-san," he said, pulling his PDA out of his pocket as he disappeared back into the living room. Yata, who had been lingering just outside the door, blushed when Nanako suddenly pinned him with her dark eyes. In the background, they could hear Tatara talking to Kusanagi.

"Chisaka," he mumbled, making the strain blink in surprise at his oddly sheepish tone.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," he blurted, face flushing but his eyes meeting hers, "for pushing me out of the way the other day."

Nanako's breath hitched. No one had thanked her for anything in years, probably because she hadn't done anything selfless enough to warrant it in just as long. Even though her body was aching and she was beyond pissed Tatara was going to drag her back to HOMRA, she appreciated his thank you more than she could articulate.

"Don't mention it," she huffed, looking to the side.

"You know, you're not as scary as you make yourself out to be," he admitted, making the corner of Nanako's mouth twitch up slightly.

"You just don't know me very well yet."

The strain didn't even realize her words implied she'd be sticking around the HOMRA boys more in the future, but it still made Yata grin.

"Chisaka-san!" Tatara head popped back around the corner, a sunny grin on his face, "I told Kusanagi-san what happened, and he agreed it would be best for you to stay at the bar until you're all healed."

Nanako sputtered, "You told him I fell?"

"Well, yeah," he smiled. He was unfazed by the glare Nanako gave him in reply.

"I'm not _moving in_ with you," she mumbled, tightening the sash on her robe.

"Well, just so you know," Tatara leaning in teasingly, making Nanako lean back, "Kusanagi-san had me on speaker phone so King could hear, and King said he'd come and carry you back if you didn't come yourself."

The color drained from Nanako's face, before flushing red as a deep scowl marred her features.

"That _prick_," she growled, shouldering the two out of her way as she ducked into her room.

"Do you need help getting your things together?" Tatara called.

"No!" she bit back, "And I'm bringing my cat!"

* * *

**And so enters Nanako (ft. Nori-chan) to the world of HOMRA! Drop a review and tell me your thoughts!**


	6. Chapter 6

Izumo was _not_ happy. He already had to deal with Fujishima bringing back strays, and now the violent assassin strain they'd decided to start housing was bringing pets with her too. As soon as the three reappeared through the bar door, Yata carrying a small duffle bag and Tatara chatting steadily, his eyes locked on the wiggling lump under Nanako's trench coat.

"What is that?" he asked, not bothering with greetings. As if on cue, a head popped out. Izumo jumped as the one eyed and one eared cat suddenly jumped out of its mistress's arms, running across the bar and jumping up on the bar top in one smooth motion. The calico feline sat down in front of the bartender, his one green eye shining brightly.

"Oh no, off the bar," Izumo immediately shooed, but the cat only meowed loudly, his tail twitching behind him.

"Nori-chan, off the bar," Nanako called softly, and the cat did as it was told, hopping off the bar. To everyone's surprise the cat darted across the bar to the couch under the window. Mikoto was stretched out on the leather couch, arms crossed behind his head, snoring softly. Nori jumped up on his stomach, circling a few times before curling up in a ball contently. Mikoto didn't even stir.

"Huh, normally animals are terrified of Mikoto," Izumo marveled, looking at Nanako as she sat down at the bar with a huff. She hated to admit it, but the walk to and from her apartment had taken a lot out of her battered body.

"Nori-chan is stupidly fearless," she replied as she fished her pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her coat. She nodded her thanks when Izumo slid her an ashtray.

"Just like his owner," the bartender teased, making Nanako give him an unimpressed look over the end of her now lit cigarette.

"Whatever," she replied, taking a drag. When she exhaled, her eyes bore into Izumo's.

"We need to discuss our next move against Mori."

Izumo hummed in agreement, putting down the glass he'd been cleaning to give her his undivided attention.

"Any ideas?" he asked, leaning his forearms on the bar top.

"Well, we know from Watanabe that Mori is changing bases this weekend," she let out an annoyed huff, taking a long drag of her cigarette, "I've been out for so long we only have three days now."

Izumo gave her a concerned look, "Do you think you'll be good to go by then?"

She nodded firmly, tapping the ash on the tip of her cigarette off into the ashtray.

"Like I told Totsuka-san, I heal fast. My wound will be closed in the next day or two."

Izumo hummed, giving her a contemplative look. She raised a brow at his expression.

"I've been meaning to ask Chisaka-san," he paused to gauge her reaction, "where did you learn to fight like that?"

She stiffened for a second, before her posture loosened again, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Izumo scoffed, leaning forward, "You took down that van and those yakuza almost entirely by yourself, and you carry a dagger with the Gold King's emblem on it."

"I told you I'm no Usagi," she growled.

"We know that Chisaka-san," Totsuke, who had taken the barstool to her right, reassured, "but you have to admit you have skills the average person wouldn't."

Yata, who sat on Totsuka's right, leaning forward to peer at her down the bar but didn't say anything. Mikoto continued to snore lightly on the couch. Kamamoto had taken Anna out for the day and everyone else was out either on patrol or completing an assignment.

Nanako bit the inside of her cheek, feeling suffocated by the silence. The cigarette burning between her lips did little to distract her, and she swallowed thickly.

"I-," she paused, choosing her words carefully, "-was trained to fight by the Gold Clan. But it was not by choice."

Izumo pulled a cigarette out of the pack he kept in his breast pocket, lighting it with a flick of his fingers, "The first time we brought you here, Anna said you were taken by Mizuchi."

The strain nodded.

"Is he the one who gave you your scars?" Tatara asked. Nanako rounded on him with burning eyes, looking ready to bite his head off, but she stopped herself by biting the inside of her cheek again.

"Most of them," she said instead, hiding her scowl by taking another drag.

"Mizuchi wanted to awaken Anna as the Blue King, and he hurt her to do it," Izumo said, "was he planning something like that with you?"

Nanako frowned. Mizuchi had wanted to _awaken_ Anna as the Blue King? If she'd learned anything about the Slate, it was that no one could predict its actions. Just because Anna had been touched by the Slate and made a strain didn't mean the bastard could magically make her a king too.

"That sick bastard."

Yata watched with concern as Nanako's jaw clenched, her head tipping down till most of the lower half of her face was obscured by her jacket's high collar. He hadn't known she had scars. He'd known about her time with Mizuchi, but not about the damage he had left on her skin. When he'd seen her in the bathroom earlier, he'd briefly caught sight of the dozens of tattoos that covered her torso, and he had seen some of the inkwork that covered her arms when she'd worn Kusanagi's shirt. He'd never looked closely though, and as such he'd never looked below the ink to see the twisted skin underneath.

"Mizuchi never had such lofty ideals for me," she scoffed, grinding out what was left of her cigarette, "he planned on training me till I could join the Usagi, to win favor with the Gold King by providing him with a strong new member for his guard."

She picked at her cuticles, eyes not looking at anyone, "He hurt me because he said my powers were tied to my emotions. That the more pain I felt the stronger I would get."

"Your parents didn't notice?" Totsuka asked. Nanako gave him an amused look.

"I don't remember ever having a father, and my mother gave me to the Gold Clan herself."

"She _gave_ you to them?" Izumo growled.

Izumo grit his teeth, anger coursing through his body. That bastard Mizuchi had done the same thing to their Anna, except he'd had years of unfettered access to Nanako compared to the few months of limited time he'd spent with Anna.

Nanako shrugged, "In her defense, I sent her to a psych ward when I was four. She didn't exactly know how to handle me."

Finally, Nanako let her eyes rise, looking the bartender in the eye, "Mizuchi taught me how to rein in my power, but also how to use it to inflict the most damage."

"After I escaped, the only thing I knew how to do was hurt people," the black-haired girl shrugged, "So I chose a profession I knew I'd accel at."

"And that keeps you well out of the Gold Clan's sphere of influence," Izumo added, and she nodded hesitantly.

"The Gold Clan is still looking for me, along with the Blue Clan," she sighed, "I've only managed to avoid them so long because of my choice in company."

"If I'd gone a more legal route," she took out another cigarette, lighting it smoothly, "I'm sure I would have gotten caught by now."

A fist slamming down on the bar top almost made her jump, and her eyes swung over to Yata. The skater was gritting his teeth, his entire body rigid.

"Those bastards," he growled, "treating strains like they're animals. _They're_ the ones who should be locked up."

Nanako's breath hitched. He was angry for her, _for _her. She'd trapped him in one of her nightmares, showed him the darkest part of her soul and he still could empathize with her. Her heart beat wildly in her chest, her tongue heavy. If it were in character for her, she might have even cried. Instead, she ducked her head, hiding the grin threatening to split her face by taking a long drag of her cigarette.

The sound of a chain rattling reminded her that there was someone besides those sitting at the bar in the room. She didn't turn around as she listened to Mikoto stand up, causing Nori to give an annoyed meow, and make his way across the room.

Nanako let out the smoke in her lungs slowly, reaching forward and tapping the ash off the end of her cigarette as Mikoto settled in the stool next to her. For some reason she found herself acutely aware of the amount of heat that rolled off him.

"Anything else you want to know or can we go back to Mori?" she murmured, fiddling with one of the rings on her index finger. She didn't want to talk about this anymore, she felt like an exposed nerve, so unused to discussing her personal life. Work was much more familiar.

Izumo frowned slightly as she ended the line of conversation, but was happy she shared as much as she did. The look Mikoto was giving the girl made him think the red-head conquered.

"What did you have in mind?" Izumo asked.

Nanako was surprised he'd outright ask for her opinion, but she nodded none the less.

"Assuming you want to take your time with him, I'd suggest a hit and run for the actual pickup."

* * *

Nanako woke up in the middle of the night, mind still buzzing from the nightmare she'd just had and knowing she was radiating her toxic aura. She had dreams about her years with Mizuchi most nights, and more often than not she was thrown awake with a pounding headache and a nauseous panic churning in her gut.

She pushed herself up carefully, aware of her side. The Tylenol she'd taken before bed had worn off and the bullet wound ached with a vengeance. She stood up carefully, running a hand through her unbound hair and looking around the room. There were a number of small rooms above the bar, and most the members of leadership lived there. The room she was in consisted only of a twin bed and a dresser with a window and a small closet. There was a bathroom across the hall as well.

She'd left the curtains open, and the moon glowed brightly, casting her room in a pale light. Nori slept curled in a ball at the foot of the bed, so Nanako was careful not to shift the sheets too much as she stood up. She sucked in a sharp breath when her side ached sharply at the movement, but she brushed it off and padded over to the door.

There were a few other rooms on this floor, and she slipped past the closed doors and down to the second floor. She held her breath as she slipped past Mikoto's door, feeling like she was sneaking past a sleeping lion. She padded down the last flight of stairs, emerging in the dark bar.

She dipped behind the bar and picked up a water glass, filling it in the small sink. She walked over to the couch under the window, sitting down slowly. She took a few large sips of water, the cool liquid helping her head. She reached forward and put the glass on the table. She rested her elbows on her thighs, burying her hands in her hair.

In all honesty she was terrified. If someone had tried to wake her up earlier, she would have trapped them in an illusion so bad they'd be screaming for hours. It was dangerous for her to sleep around so many people. Hell, it was dangerous for her to be around so many people period.

She heard the stairs creak, and her head snapped up. Mikoto stood on the bottom step, hands in his sweats and an unreadable look on his face. Nanako made sure to keep her expression neutral as he approached her, even managing to meet his gaze as he sat down next to her.

"Why are you up?" he asked, leaning back comfortably.

"Why are you?" she fired back.

He frowned at her, and Nanako turned her eyes away.

"I had a nightmare."

She surprised herself by being so honest, but for some reason she wasn't worried about what he'd think of her answer.

Mikoto looked at the woman sitting next to him. Her pale skin looked whiter than usual, and bags had appeared under her eyes. She hid it well, but he could see she was still favoring her side slightly. He noted her hair was down from its usual bun, the thick waves of dark hair softening the angles of her face. She looked younger, but not more innocent.

He didn't mind her answer, in fact he was pleasantly surprised she was so open. She was always so guarded it was a welcome change.

"Me too."

Nanako jerked up at his answer. Had he really just-

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, giving the red-head a disbelieving look.

But Mikoto just shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. Nanako eyed him for a second, debating if she wanted to bring up what had been bothering her since she arrived at the bar.

"Suoh," she sighed, and Mikoto blinked in surprise. She'd never said his name before.

"You should know, it's not safe for me to sleep here."

Mikoto brought his gaze down from the ceiling, taking note that Nanako was rubbing her temples, eyes glued shut.

"My power, when I'm awake I keep it in check. When I use it, I concentrate it to just my hands," she opened her tired eyes, looking at the red-head, "but when I sleep I let go of some of that control. My power seeps out like a fucking gas leak."

She shook her head, "It's dangerous for me to even be in the same building as you guys."

Nanako felt hallow. She was sure the red-head was going to tell her to leave, for the sake of his clansmen's' safety. It was his responsibility as their King after all. Instead, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a large, heavy hand placed itself on the top of her head. Her dark red eyes swung up, locking on the golden amber orbs regarding her almost softly.

"Powers like ours," he started quietly, "always run the risk of hurting those around us. You just need to have faith you're stronger than it is."

Nanako ducked her head, avoiding his eye. Her voice was quiet, but there was an undeniable note of bitterness in it, "Yeah well, there's no good side to my abilities. I can't bring people together or protect them, like you. The only thing I can do is hurt people."

She pushed herself to her feet, causing Mikoto's hand to fall.

"If you had any sense you'd throw me out on the street right now," she scoffed, throwing him a look over her shoulder, "but judging by that soppy look you're giving me I doubt you'd do that."

Mikoto blinked. He didn't know what 'soppy' look he was giving her, unless she could intuitively know what he was thinking. Admittedly, he had been eying her with a new perspective. The nightmares, the constant fear of hurting those around her, the self-induced isolation to keep people safe…she reminded him of himself.

Instead, he scowled, "I don't do soppy."

Nanako raised a brow as he stood, looking up to meet his eye. He was close, very close, the heat radiating off his body almost wrapping around her. She kept her muscles relaxed, but she couldn't move an inch.

"Go back upstairs. You need to rest."

Nanako gave him a dry look. Even with her warning, he still wanted her to stay. Stupid man. Still, the fact he wanted her to stay, even knowing the truth, made her chest warm.

"Promise me you'll make sure no one comes into my room when I'm sleeping," she stipulated, crossing her arms and looking at him with eyes full of fire.

Mikoto nodded. That much he could do. He watched as her entire body relaxed at his agreement, dark red eyes meeting his for another second before she turned away. He watched her shuffle to the stairs, letting out an annoyed tsk as he watched her awkwardly start making her way up the stairs with her injured side.

Nanako bit down on her tongue to stop herself from screaming, she didn't want to wake the whole house, when two arms wrapped around her and lifted her up. Her eyes shot to Mikoto as he lifted her bridal style and settled her comfortably in his arms, making his way up the stairs faster than she could have managed.

"Suoh Mikoto _put me down_," she growled lowly, overly aware of the people sleeping behind the closed doors they were passing. She'd rather die than have someone see her in this position.

"You can barely make it up on your own," he replied instead, "this is faster."

Nanako squirmed, biting down a moan when it made her side throb. Mikoto shot her a knowing look as her fidgeting stopped, a low hiss of pain escaping her lips. She glared at him in response.

The fall of his boots echoed through the empty hallway as they made it to the third-floor landing. She thought he'd put her down there but he went all the way to her bedroom door. The second her feet touched the floor, she scrambled away from him. Her eyes spit fire at him, but Mikoto only smirked.

Stupid cocky bastard, she thought, ready to claw his eyes out if he tried anything else stupid. As if to spite her, a small blur of fur came creeping out of her open bedroom door, and she watched as Nori wrapped himself around Mikoto's ankles, looking up at the red-head and meowing needily.

Mikoto's smirk only grew at the look of betrayal on Nanako's face. His eyes fell to the calico rubbing affectionately against him. He wasn't much of an animal person, but if humoring the feline could draw such a look of annoyance to its mistress's face, he could make an exception.

Nanako reached down and snatched Nori up, holding the cat firmly as it squirmed to get back to the red-head.

"Goodnight Suoh," she growled, turning and disappearing into her room, the door closing firmly behind her.

Mikoto couldn't help but chuckle as he buried his hands in his pockets and made his way back downstairs.

* * *

Nanako woke up the next morning feeling better rested than she had in a long time. She'd left her bedroom door cracked so Nori could leave if he wanted, and the small calico was nowhere to be seen. She threw the sheets off her, stretching her arms above her head and feeling pleasantly surprised her side ached significantly less than it had yesterday. She pulled the hem of her black t-shirt up, noting with satisfaction that the wound had closed.

She traded her thin grey sweats for her typical black jeans, then made her way to the bathroom across the hall. In a few minutes her face was washed and her hair and teeth were brushed, and she was making her way down to the bar's main area.

Immediately her eyes locked on Mikoto. The red-head was sitting at the bar, cigarette between his lips, with _her_ cat sprawled out on his back on the bar top in front of him, the feline's one good eye staring adoringly at him. Every few seconds or so, Nori would mewl quietly, swatting at Mikoto's hand resting close to his head, and the red-head would relent and scratch the calico's head gently.

"What are you doing to my cat?"

Izumo grinned at the sour look on Nanako's face as the strain descended the last few steps and entered the bar.

Anna, who had been sitting on the stool next to Mikoto as she stroked Nori's side, perked up at the sight of the black-haired girl. As Nanako stalked over, swatting Mikoto's hand away from Nori, Anna gave the girl a small smile.

"Good morning Nana."

Nanako froze at the nickname, a small blush coloring her cheeks at the grin Izumo gave her and the small smirk on Mikoto's face. Determined not to give them any more ammunition, Nanako reached out and ruffled Anna's hair affectionately, her face carefully blank.

"Good morning Anna."

Nanako sat down in the barstool next to the girl, and Nori pushed up, walking down the bar to his mistress. Nori meowed happily as Nanako picked him up, cradling him close to her chest. He rubbed his head against her chin, purring loud enough for Kamamoto to hear from across the room and chuckle.

Tatara strolled over to the bar from where he'd been watching a show with Yata, giving the strain a smile.

"How's the side Nana?"

Nanako resisted to urge to hiss at him for calling her that, but she settled on giving him a look that could peal paint instead.

"It's fine, I'll be fully healed by the time we make our move against Mori," she replied coolly, releasing Nori when he began to squirm. The cat jumped to the floor, trotting across the room to the couch under the window. He jumped up on the couch, walking right across Bandou and Shouhei before hopping onto the window ledge. Within moments the cat was stretched out on his side, basking sleepily in the sun.

Nanako rolled her eyes at the cat, returning her dark eyes to Tatara. His face showed he didn't believe her, and she tsked in annoyance. She grasped the hem of her shirt, raising it to her ribs.

"See?" she sighed, and Tatara and Izumo both leaned in to see her side. Black and purple bruising still covered her side, and the tattoos covering her torso made it look darker. Surprisingly though, while the skin was still red and swollen, the wound was completely closed over.

A small hand touched her stomach, making Nanako suck in a surprised breath, but she relaxed when Anna looked up to see if she'd done anything wrong. Nanako shook her head, and Anna's attention returned to her stomach.

Her small hand bypassed the wound, tracing over the twin tiger tattoos on her stomach. Each one stretched from the bottom of her ribs to her hipbones, bookending her belly button and the large jagged scar that went straight down the middle of her torso. Anna's hand moved from the tattoos to the scar, and Nanako shivered. Anna pulled her hand back, sensing the wave of sorrow that washed over the older girl as she traced the old wound.

"Sorry," Anna whispered quietly, but an affectionate poke to her nose brought her attention back to Nanako.

"Don't apologize," Nanako assured her, pulling her shirt back down and patting Anna's head, "you didn't do anything wrong."

Nanako looked up when she felt a heavy gaze on her, noticing Mikoto's eyes lingering on her stomach. His face was blank, but the look in his eyes reminded her of the look he gave her last night. Her lips curled down into a frown as she met the Red King's gaze,

"There's that look again."

Mikoto scowled, averting his gaze to the window. Izumo raised his brow at Mikoto's reaction, noticing an equally confused look on Totsuka's face.

"Now," Nanako pulled her pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket, shaking one out and placing it between her lips. She went digging back into her pocket for a lighter but Izumo held one out for her first. She nodded her thanks as she lit her cigarette, leaning back and taking a content drag.

"Let's talk business."

Nanako leaned forward, resting her forearms on the bar, "Mori moves bases in two and a half days. This is the most vulnerable he'll be for a long time. It'll be a pain in the ass to get him after this."

"So we won't fuck it up."

Nanako looked over her shoulder as Yata walked up to the bar, a determined look in his eyes. Nanako nodded, her face impassive, but the skater noticed a certain gleam in her eyes.

"If I could avoid getting shot this time that'd be good too."

Immediately Yata's face turned red, his mouth falling open in surprise. Nanako's face softened noticeably, and he pulled himself together slightly once he realized she was only toying with him.

"We know Mori's point A and point B," Nanako pushed on, tapping the ash off her cigarette, "if we can figure out the route he'll most likely take, we can sit and let him come to us. Blitz the car, pull Mori out, leave before reinforcements get there."

"It sounds easy when you say it like that," Tatara smiled, and Nanako gave him an unimpressed look.

"We're still trying to kidnap a mob boss," she sighed, "I wouldn't make light of it."

"Well we've still got plenty of time to make a plan, it'll all work out," Tatara smiled.

Nanako was sure she'd never got used to his unending optimism.

"Do you have a map of the city?" she asked Izumo.

"It's upstairs," he nodded, ducking out from behind the bar and disappearing up the stairs a few seconds later.

Nanako took a hit of her cigarette, noticing the concerned look on Anna's face as Shouhei, Kamamoto and Bandou joined them at the bar. When Izumo reappeared with a large map, all the boys leaned in as Izumo took the initiative and marked the two bases on the map with a black marker, everyone pointing to streets and stating their opinions.

Nanako frowned. She needed to focus on this right now, but the look on Anna's face kept pulling her attention. So, the black-haired strain leaned in close to the little girl and whispered,

"After this can I take you on a walk to one of my favorite places?"

Anna's eyes lit up, and she gave Nanako a nod. The older girl fought the urge to smile at the happy look that settled over the little girl's face, and turned her attention back to the map. To the side, Mikoto watched the interaction with keen eyes. For such a cold woman, she was warm as the sun with Anna. He didn't know what she'd said to HOMRA's youngest member, but Anna was as close to beaming as she ever got. He'd keep an eye on it.

For many of the boys, sitting at the bar pouring over Izumo's old map was the first time they'd ever seen evidence of Nanako's skills. She was a genius when it came to strategy, and she made them all sit and go through every single possible variation of roots Mori could take between his two bases. For each potential route, she sketched out multiple options as far as plan of attack and defense, until most of them were convinced there wasn't a single possibility she hadn't accounted for.

Nanako blew out the smoke in her lungs, stabbing out her cigarette in the already full ashtray. She leaned back, eyeing the map critically as she ran through scenarios in her head. She didn't think she'd missed anything, but she wasn't moving till she was sure.

"Okay," she nodded to herself, "now we're getting somewhere."

"I never knew you had such a head for strategy, Chisaka-san," Shouhei commented, looking at the notepad she'd asked Izumo for not long after they'd started in on the map, its pages filled with pages of notes and strategies and comments in Nanako's messy handwriting.

"You should see me play chess," she said, pushing to her feet. She rolled her shoulders back, satisfied with the loud crack her neck gave. Her eyes went to the couch under the window, and Anna reading a children's book quietly next to a lightly dozing Mikoto.

"Anna," she called, and said girl's head rose up, "ready?"

Anna nodded, sliding off the couch and walking over to Nanako, slipping her hand into the older girl's when she reached her.

"Eh? Where are you going?" Tatara blinked in surprise as the two girls made their way to the door. Nanako tossed him a look, a playful light none of them had seen before swimming in her dark eyes.

"It's a secret."

"Eh?" Kamamoto scratched his head.

They'd just reached the door, and Nanako was pushing it open to let Anna through when she heard the telltale rattling of a chain, and looking over her shoulder to see Mikoto up and striding towards her. She gave him an unimpressed look,

"Seriously? I'm not going to kidnap her," Nanako glared, but Mikoto ignored her and slipping past her out the door after Anna. Annoyed by his dismissal, Nanako scowled and followed them out with a huff.

Tatara chuckled as the door clicked shut behind them, "She's just like King, neh?"

"Don't let her hear you say that," Izumo warned, picking up a freshly washed stem glass and beginning to dry it.

"I guess I can see it," Shouhei mumbled, cocking his head slightly as his gaze continued to linger on the door.

The sound of soft feet landing on the bar just behind him made Shouhei twist around, smiling at the sight of Nori sitting there looking at him, his one eye bright and his tail swishing behind him. To the side, Izumo scowled at the cat on his precious bar, but clearly the creature could not be deterred.

"She's certainly made things interesting since getting here," Tatara chuckled as he reached forward and stroked the calico, making Nori meow happily. Nori's head turned, his one remaining ear pointing right at Izumo and a needing look on his face. Despite himself, the sour look left the bartender's face as he offered his hand out. Nori sniffed his fingers for a moment before pressing his face into Izumo's hand.

"Anyone who rescues animals from abusive homes is decent in my mind," Kosuke pipped up, holding out his hand till Nori wondered down the bar to receive affection.

"Anna seems to like her too," Kamamoto mumbled, and despite their disastrous first meeting, even the blond could admit he liked the girl despite everything.

Izumo sighed, smiling slightly as he looked at the door again, "We'll just have to see what happens."

* * *

Nanako picked the old lock with ease, pushing the metal door open.

"Come on," she pulled Anna gently inside, Mikoto close behind.

She'd taken them to the air train station, and they'd rode it till the end of the line. They'd gotten off in a quiet residential area, and Nanako had guided them away from the homes until they came to a hulking old building. It looked abandoned, but structurally in good condition.

"This used to be the city observatory," Nanako explained as she picked up Anna before starting up the steep flight of spiral stairs that wrapped around the outer wall of the building.

"Why is it abandoned?" Anna asked, looking down over Nanako's shoulder at the floor steadily growing further away.

"The city built a new one on the other side of town," Nanako shrugged as best she could with Anna in her arms, "they just left this one to waste."

The observatory was a cylindrical building, about five stories high. It was situated on the outskirts of Shizume, at the top of a large hill that overlooked the city. The staircase they were on went from the floor to almost the ceiling. The domed ceiling was entirely made of glass, and at the top of the staircase a small landing led to a door. Nanako put Anna down on the landing, then pushed the door open.

Anna gasped in delight. They'd emerged on the building's old outdoor observatory deck. In the time it had taken them to get across the city, the sun had set, and darkness had fallen over the city. Below them, Shizume city was lit up, the far-off lights looking like a million tiny stars in the distance.

Anna stepped up on the old metal railing, leaning as far over as she could to look at the view. Nanako rested her hand on the girl's back, ready to pull her back if she lost her balance. Nanako looked back over her shoulder, seeing Mikoto looking out over the city, the wind causing the smoke from the cigarette between his lips to whip wildly around him.

"Nice view, right?" she almost smiled as he nodded, eyes not leaving the view in front of him.

Nanako went into her coat pocket, pulling out a cigarette and her lighter. She cupped her hands to block the wind, taking a deep drag when it lit.

"It's so pretty," Anna sighed, and Nanako felt the corner of her lips twitch up in response. It was nice to see the young girl with such an excited look on her face.

"It is," Nanako agreed, leaning her forearms against the railing and looking down at the city. This place had been her sanctuary after she'd escaped from the Gold Clan. It was annoyingly out of the way of most things, and the Usagi had never bothered to search this far out for her.

She could remember it clear as day. She'd broken out in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record, and she'd fall asleep every night on this viewing deck, surrounded by the balmy air and softly glowing lights.

Mikoto glanced at Nanako. She looked content, her face and body relaxed as she looked at the city spread out below her. The cigarette bobbed up and down between her lips, the tip glowing as she inhaled.

"How'd you find it?" he asked, and her eyes glowed dimly in the far-off lights as she looked at him.

"By accident," she murmured, "I was just looking for somewhere to see the view."

A content sigh left her lips, "I haven't been here in a while."

Mikoto didn't say anything in response. He was too busy absorbing the gentle, content expression on her face as she looked out at the city. She always had such a cold expression on her face, he'd never taken the time to really take in her features. High cheekbones, a small nose, full lips. And, to his surprise, his chest tightened a little when a soft smile graced her face.

She seemed to blink back into the moment, the smile falling from her lips. She looked down at Anna, taking note of the way her eyes were starting to droop.

"We should head back," she murmured, and Anna looked up at her with drowsy eyes. Nanako patted her head lightly, then guided her towards the door. When she looked back over her shoulder, she paused. Because standing just behind, with a look in his eyes that made her heart race, was Mikoto. Her golden amber eyes blazed with an emotion she couldn't quite place, and she swallowed thickly.

"What?" she asked.

That seemed to snap him back to reality, and in a blink his face was blank again. He let out a grunt, then brushed past her to follow Anna back inside. Nanako let out a shaky breath, which quickly transformed into a frown, and followed after them.

* * *

**Aw, Mikoto is starting to catch feelings. Poor guy, Nanako most certainly isn't going to make it easy for him. Next chapter I promise you so much fluff you won't know what to do with yourselves. More importantly, I want to say thank you to all of you for being so supportive of this f****ic! I wrote it so impulsively, more for myself than for anyone else and I definitely wasn't planning to post it, mostly because I didn't think many people would be interested in the plot. But you've all been so lovely, thank you so much! Please leave a review so I can get your thoughts on the chapter! The more reviews it gets the faster I'll update ;) **

**Gally**


	7. Chapter 7

"Is everyone in position?" Nanako spoke into her earpiece, watching the busy road from her perch on the roof of the low building she was standing on.

"In position," Yata confirmed through the earpiece.

"Bandou, in position."

"Akagi, in position."

"Surt and Kosuke, both in position."

"Kamamoto, in position. Hey, can we go for lunch after we-"

"Fat ass, how can you be thinking of food right now," Yata burst, making Nanako wince.

"Ah, but Yata-san, we already missed lunch and-"

"Both of you, _shut up_," Nanako growled, and the line went silent. A chuckle came over the frequency, and Nanako scowled as Izumo spoke up.

"Seems there's finally someone who can make Yata-chan stop talking."

"Kusanagi-san," Yata whined.

Nanako walked to the edge of the roof, shooting Izumo a glare that could kill. The blond, who was standing under the gazebo of a small market across the street, grinned up at her.

"Children," Nanako hissed, rubbing her temples.

"Have a little faith Nana," Izumo teased, and Nanako almost threw herself off the roof to club him.

"I told you to _stop calling me that_," she growled. She was so preoccupied glowering at Izumo over the edge of the roof she almost missed the black van that turned the corner onto the avenue. Nanako tensed, taking note of the two black sedans, one in front and one behind, that drove with it.

"Incoming," she hissed, and over the earpiece she heard as everyone shuffled into motion, "Kamamoto."

The sound of a motorcycle engine revving filled the street, and a second later Kamamoto peeled out of an alley just after the small motorcade passed him. On the back of the bike sat Shouhei, wooden bat in hand, and the two pulled up alongside the black sedan tailing the truck. She saw the car's front passenger window roll down, and before the man inside could unload the gun she knew he had to be holding on the two HOMRA members, she spoke into her earpiece.

"Now Yata."

Yata came bursting out a third-floor window in the building to her left. People screamed as glass rained down on the sidewalk. The skater went hurtling towards the sedan leading the group, bat poised. Red flames whipped wildly around him as he smashed his bat into the car's hood, making the car flip. The black truck's wheels screeched as it swerved around the overturned car, and the back sedan behind it slammed on its breaks. Shouhei swooped in, smashing the sedan's windshield in. Ahead of the skidding van stood Kusanagi, a familiar lighter in his hand. With a flick of his fingers a small flame burst to life. He swung his arm wide, and in seconds huge fire balls were speeding towards the van. Breaks squealed, and the van swerved dangerously as flames erupted across the windshield and right side of the vehicle.

The van slid to a stop, almost overturning, flames crackling steadily off it.

"Everyone else, move in," she called, and from the two alleys on either side of the street, Bandou, Kosuke and Eric came rushing out. Kosuke threw the van door open, and the three rushed into the van. The three reappeared with a familiar blond kicking in their grip.

She lingered on the roof as the clan regrouped around their captive. She had provided a base strategy, but the specifics and the actual execution was left to HOMRA. This was their victory. She was glad she didn't go down to join them, because not a moment after Chitose and Dewa pulled up in a van and Kosuke and Eric wrestled Mori in through the side door, a siren sounded not far off. Nanako felt a chill go down her spine.

A half dozen SCEPTER 4 vans came hurtling around the corner, speeding towards the Red Clan. Eric and Kosuke scrambled into the van as Chitose gunned it, the van speeding away.

Nanako had planned for something like this to happen. She had figured it would be the Metro PD given it was gang related, but she guessed a large-scale operation by the Red Clan in broad daylight warranted extra attention.

She watched as the van took a sharp right, and soon after a her trump card came strolling around the corner. The vans had come to a stop in front of the wall of HOMRA members, and a dozen blues spilled out. Their momentum was stalled at the sight of Mikoto walking towards them, but they quickly regained their confidence as the Blue King emerged from the last van.

Nanako's grip on the ledge tightened till her knuckles turned white. Her mind was buzzing, and she swallowed the panic pushing up her throat. She hadn't revealed herself, and the blues had no reason to suspect someone skulking around in the shadows.

"Suoh Mikoto," Munakata's voice called out as Mikoto came to stop in the center of his clansmen, "you and your clan are being as violent and intolerable as ever."

Mikoto smirked at the frown on the other king's face, "Munakata Reisi. You look as awful and boring as ever."

The corner of Nanako's mouth twitched up at his dry response.

"I need to ask you to hand over Mori Hayate," Munakata adjusted his glasses, face neutral.

"No," Mikoto shrugged.

Nanako let out a snort of amusement.

"Very well, in that case Scepter 4 will be forced to take offensive measures to ensure your cooperation," a sly smirk crossed his face, making Nanako tense, "but only if our shadow comes down and joins us first."

Nanako's teeth ground together so hard she could hear it, and her body was wound so tight she felt like she could go off at a pin drop. She didn't move, but then his head turned and he was looking straight at her, and she couldn't ignore it.

Mikoto kept his unease carefully concealed as was saw Nanako stand. She jumped off the roof, looking like an avenging spirit as her black coat billowed around her, her red eyes gleaming dangerously in the light. She landed with a soft thud, her face blank.

He was more than well aware of how she felt about the Blue King. When she'd quietly told Kusanagi, Totsuke, and Yata about her past, he'd been awake. He'd been awake from the moment her crazy cat jumped on him. And having heard what he did, he had to admit if Munakata made a move to detain her and Nanako lashed out, he wouldn't stop her. She had every right to be wary of the Blue Clan. Plus, Munakata was an uptight asshole.

Nanako surveyed the scene carefully. A dozen Scepter 4 members, plus the Blue King himself. Her eyes glanced over to the Red Clan, and she almost bit the inside of her cheek but stopped herself. Yata's focus was shattered, all his focus on one of the Scepter 4 agents. Nanako recognized him as the boy from Yata's nightmare. The rest of the boys looked tense and agitated, only Izumo and Mikoto looking utterly unruffled.

"Ah, if you are who I believe you to be, I have only heard stories of you. The strain called Karito."

Nanako's blank face finally cracked, a scowl twisting her features.

Munakata smirked, "His Excellency has made it clear if you ever surfaced, you were to be brought to him immediately."

Nanako hissed, "Fuck you asshole."

Mikoto almost grinned. The appalled look on Munakata's face was the best thing he'd seen in weeks.

"How uncouth," Munakata looked at her in disdain, but Nanako continued to glare viciously at him.

"None the less, I must insist you come with us, Chisaka Nanako."

Nanako's response was cut short by a metal bat hitting the pavement. Her eyes swung to Yata, the chestnut-haired boy glaring viciously at the Blue King.

"Not a chance," he scoffed.

"Yata's right," Izumo called out, "Chisaka-san is repaying a debt she owes us. She is under HOMRA's protection until that debt is repaid."

Nanako almost gaped at him. She'd just watched them throw Mori into their van and drive away. Her debt to them was now officially repaid. They had absolutely no reason to stand up for her now.

"Your business with her is inconsequential to me," Munakata drawled back, turning to face her fully, "Chisaka Nanako you are to surrender yourself to Scepter 4, to be returned to the custody of his Excellency the Gold King-"

A loud, bubbling laugh silenced everyone. All eyes turned to the black-haired strain as she cackled, hands on her knees to keep herself steady. When she finally straightened, her laughter had stopped but a rueful smirk still twisted her features.

"If you honestly believe I'd just turn myself over to that decrepit tyrant," she scoffed, "then you're a fucking idiot Munakata."

Seriously, Mikoto thought, he'd keep this girl around just to let her curse out Munakata from time to time. The man looked like he was struggling not to have a stroke.

"Awashima-kun," he grit, and the blond snapped to attention.

"Men, draw your swords!"

Nanako kept herself relaxed as the sound of sabers been drawn from their sheaths filled the air. With a flick of her wrist, a knife dropped into her right palm, but she transferred it to her left as she reached under her coat and around to the small of her back, fingers wrapping around the hilt of the tanto blade she kept there. When she pulled it out, Reisi's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Those blades are reserved for members of the Gold Clan only. You have no right to wield one."

"Yeah well," she shrugged, "the Usagi I took this from was lying in a puddle of his own vomit by the time I was through with him. I think I'm better suited for it."

"Do not speak lightly of what you did," he warned, "you left a dozen of the Gold Clan's members empty, drooling shells. Half those men are now dead due to further complications. The Gold King will kill you as soon as he lays eyes on you."

Nanako smirked, "He still has to catch me first."

That did it, and three Scepter 4 agents came flying towards her. Nanako ducked to the right as a brunette sailed by her left, lifted the tanto just in time to block a saber would have sliced through her right shoulder. She was grateful her side was fully healed, because she needed to be on her game right now.

Nanako grunted as she pushed forward, knocking the Scepter 4 agent back a few feet. Her reprieve was short lived though, because a moment later she dropped low to avoid the swipe of the brunette agent's blade who had flown past her early. She pivoted on her heel till she was facing him, rocking back on her heels before launching upwards, the blade of the knife in her left hand aimed at the soft spot on the underside of his chin.

The brunette jumped back, and Nanako returned her attention to the agent who had yet to attack. Unlike the other two who had jumped to attack, this one stayed back, watching her move before launching his attack. Seeing this, when he finally made his move Nanako dedicated a majority of her attention to his figure.

He charged her just as she felt another of the agents rush her from behind. Nanako let out a tsk of irritation. She bent backwards as the one changing her from the front got close enough to swing. Her palms brushed the cement, and she pressed her weight into them as she kicked up, the steel toe of her boot smashing into the man's chin as she vaulted up and over the man behind her. She landed with a thud, and before the second agent could react, she kicked him, right in the middle of his spine, with all the force she could muster. The agent went flying forward, crashing into the agent she'd left reeling from the kick to the face. They fell to the ground in a heap.

She swooped forward, retrieving the blades she'd dropped when she'd vaulted backwards. She spun just in time to parry the attack of the brunette who'd attacked her first. With a growl she changed her grip on her two blades, lunging forward. He ducked back and forth as she swung at him, but when his boot caught on the cement and he fell back, Nanako saw her opening. She stashed her knife back up her sleeve as she followed him to the ground. Hand now free, she slapped her palm over his face.

Everyone turned at the sound of a blood curdling scream. Nanako stood tall, glaring viciously at anyone who dared look at her. The Scepter 4 agent screaming and kicking at her feet only adding to the menacing aura was she letting off.

"I," she growled, her voice echoing over what had quickly degenerated into a battle field, "will _never_ get back in that cage ever again."

Yata grinned at the wave of fear that went through the blues. He could see it in their faces, the terror as they watched their comrade scream, nails scratching and digging into his own skin till blood seeped out and covered his hands.

Nanako bared her teeth at the Scepter 4 agent closest to her, and the boy stumbled back. Mikoto watched with amusement. She was certainly living up to her nickname. She looked like a raging demon, all swirling black cloth and blood red eyes shooting hell fire. She was absolutely terrifying, and for some reason he felt heat start to bloom in his stomach. She was as strong and fearless as they came; her own force of nature.

The red-head's focus was broken by a swing from Munakata, and he turned his eyes away from the strain to focus on his opponent.

"You're making a dangerous mistake protecting that woman, Suoh," Munakata warned as Mikoto parried his saber with a fist wrapped in his flaming red aura.

"We can handle her," Mikoto scoffed in response. Munakata narrowed his eyes.

"She's a killer and a liar. She manipulates people for a living."

Mikoto's jaw tightened in annoyance. Like the prick knew anything about her. Mikoto got ready to launch himself at the other king again, but a body flying between them and into the wall to their left made them both pause. The blue clad clansman slumped to the ground with a groan, a knife lodged deep in his shoulder.

Mikoto smirked as Munakata looked back at him, "I think your just pissed she's kicking your boys' asses."

Nanako was breathing heavily by this point, a mix of rage and exertion. She was not in the mood for this. Every single one of these blues were getting on her nerves.

"Chisaka duck!"

Nanako hit the pavement, not bothering to see who had called her name or where the threat was coming from first. She'd seen too many people lose their heads doing that. A moment later an arc of red aura, strong enough to cause cracks to form in the pavement, went soaring over her head and into the blue coming up behind her. Nanako pushed to her feet, nodding her thanks to Chitose. The brunette grinned back before turning his attention to his next opponent.

It was Munakata who eventually called a stop to the violence. Around him, many of his men were bleeding or injured, and looking over at the red clan he could see they weren't in a much better condition. To his greater concern, four of his men were on the ground clutching their heads, screaming bloody murder. He knew what the long-term effects of that woman's power could do to someone's mind, and he wanted to get them to a physician sooner rather than later.

"This fighting is getting us nowhere," Awashima snapped to attention at his voice, and he nodded.

"Men, put down your swords!" she barked.

Slowly, red and blue clansmen dropped their weapons.

"Mori Hayate may remain in your custody for now," the blue king conceded. His dark eyes swung to the blood splattered strain glaring hell fire at him.

"It seems the amount of force necessary to detain you exceeds what we're prepared for at the moment," he adjusted his glasses, "but rest assured Chisaka-san, the Gold King will be coming for you soon."

Some of the fire burning in her blood fizzled out at the threat, though she kept her glare firmly on her face, choosing not to respond to him. She watched closely as the Scepter 4 members began shuffling back to their vans, her body still wound even after the last one piled in and the vehicles started to pull away. Which is why, when a heavy hand landed on her shoulder, she instantly pivoted on her heel, fist raised and ready to cause damage.

Mikoto blinked in surprise at the sting her fist left on his palm as he grabbed her hand before it could find its mark on his face. He watched as the blind rage that had been clouding her eyes immediately drained away, replacing first by surprise then by barely muted horror. She tugged her fist out of his hand, looking off to the side.

"Sorry," she mumbled, and she took the grunt he gave in response as an apology accepted.

"Chisaka-san!"

Mikoto watched as surprise swept across Nanako's face for a moment as an arm slung itself around her shoulder, and she looked back to see a number of the boys had made their way over to them.

"You sure know how to kick some ass," Chitose grinned, but before she had to think of a response Shouhei was cutting in.

"That back flip you did, when you nailed that blue in the chin I almost lost it! It was awesome!" Shouhei laughed, and the red king saw a faint streak of color rising on her cheeks.

"I don't know about that," Nanako mumbled, but she looked up in surprise when Yata let out a tsk. Her surprise only grew when he raised a fist.

"You're pretty good," the skater mumbled, looking to the side with a raging blush on his cheeks. Nanako blinked at him for a second, before the corner of her lips curled up in small smile. She bumped her fist against his.

"We should spar some time," she offered, and Yata's face swung around, an excited gleam in his eye.

"For sure! I'll wipe the floor with you!"

The smile dropped from her lips, but amusement still shone clear as day in her red eyes.

"We'll see about that."

* * *

Nanako took a deep drag of her cigarette, enjoying the light breeze against her hot skin. As she exhaled, the breeze picked up the smoke and whisked it away. Below, she could hear the voices of the few HOMRA members still awake drift up through the bar's open windows. She was lying on her back, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle on the bar's roof.

The strain was filled with a mix of relief and apprehension. Relief, because after returning from the run in with the blues, HOMRA had wasted no time in disposing of Mori. They'd offered to let her join, but she'd refused. Capturing and getting rid of Mori had been their goal, not hers, they'd simply enlisted her help in getting him. They deserved to handle him how they saw fit.

She was relieved her business with the yakuza boss, or against the yakuza boss really, was over. To her greater surprise though, was the fact that even with their deal technically complete, HOMRA had shown no signs of wanting her leave. They had been unyieldingly kind, and it was obvious they wanted her to stay.

This was where the apprehension came in. Nanako had been 16 when she escaped from the Gold Clan, and was now 23. For seven years, she'd remained underground, well out of sight of anyone looking for her. Now though, not only had she surfaced from the seedy realm of Shizume's underbelly, but she had been spotted. And not just spotted- she'd made direct fucking contact with the Blue King. And said king had sworn to let the Gold King know of her whereabouts.

The only logical course of action she could think of was disappearing for a while. Despite HOMRA's offer, she knew it was the best thing to do. If she was being honest, it felt like the only choice she had.

Despite her best efforts, the members of the red clan had become special to her. If anything were to happen to them, any of them, because of her, she knew the guilt would be worse than anything she'd felt before. And god knows she's done some horrible things.

She decided she'd leave in the morning. Despite how much she wanted to slip off in the night when no one would notice, she knew she needed to say goodbye. At the very least, she wanted to say goodbye to Anna.

The sound of boots against concrete behind her made Nanako shoot up, hand reaching for a knife. Mikoto only raised a brow in response. She relaxed, shooting him a frown.

"What do you want Suoh?" she rested her forearms on her bent knees, taking a deep drag of her cigarette. She heard him walk towards her, and stopped herself from blinking in surprise when the red-head sat down next to her.

She watched him pull a cigarette and his lighter out of his pocket, and in a few moments a second thin trail of smoke rose next to hers.

"You're going to leave, aren't you."

Nanako froze as his deep voice washed over her. His words, despite being worded as a question, were anything but.

"I told you I would," she replied, and she saw out of the corner of her eye as the red-head frowned.

"Where will you go?"

"It's better you don't know," she let out the smoke sitting in her lungs.

Mikoto scowled, "Bullshit."

Nanako rounded on him, dark red eyes blazing, "_Excuse me_?"

"We don't need you to protect us," he gave her a hard look, "_you_ need us."

"I don't need anyone," she fired back immediately.

All the air left her lungs and the cigarette tumbled from her lips as Nanako was knocked backwards. Before she could blink, Mikoto had both her wrists pinned and her back pressed against the concrete. He loomed over her, a scowl on his face and fire in his eyes.

"You damn stubborn woman," he growled, and Nanako barred her teeth at him, fighting against his hold on her.

"Suoh Mikoto get off of me," she hissed, though the words died on her lips when he leaned down. He stopped just an inch away from her, and Nanako was stifled by the amount of heat rolling off of him.

"Stop pretending you don't need anyone," his voice was low since he was so close, but his words shook her all the same.

"Stop pretending you give a shit," she bit back, squirming under him.

Mikoto glared down at her. He knew what she was doing- he knew exactly why she was trying to leave. He knew what it was like to feel like the only way you could keep the people you cared about safe was by keeping yourself as far from them as you could. He struggled with it every day. What he'd learned though, was that he was fortunate enough to have people around him who cared about him despite that. Who pulled him out of the dark when he was feeling lost. If she'd just stop being so god damn stubborn she'd see the same thing.

"The longer I stay the more trouble you'll have," she finally admitted, tugging viciously on his hold on her wrists, "think like a king and let me go."

The black-haired girl stiffened as a sly smirk took over the red-head's face, making her breath hitch slightly.

"I've never been good at acting like a king," he rumbled, and before she could move away or say something snarky back, he leaned down. The second his lips touched hers, he felt her gasp. He tilted his head, and slowly he felt her relax underneath him.

Nanako scrambled to keep up with the chain of events. Suoh Mikoto, the third and Red King, was kissing her on the roof of bar HOMRA. And he was damn good at it. Electricity rocketed up and down her spine, making her toes curl and the hairs on her arms stand up. Unconsciously, she stopped pulling against his wrists, relaxing in his hold. She felt more than heard his rumble of approval, and she bit down the whimper the sound instinctively evoked from her.

By the time he pulled back, Nanako was gasping and blushing under him. Mikoto smirked, ecstatic by her reaction. It was nice to know the pull he'd been trying to convince himself he didn't feel for the woman was in fact mutual.

"Stay with HOMRA," he nuzzled his nose into the side of her neck, running his lips down the side of her neck and feeling her shiver in response.

"The Blue and the Gold Clans-" she started, but she cut herself off to stop herself from gasping as Mikoto placed a hot, open-mouth kiss on the base of her neck.

"We'll protect you."

"Suoh," she denied that that was a whimper, forcing the rest of her words out of her, "with everything I've done, the life I've lived- I won't bring HOMRA anything but trouble."

Mikoto pulled back, and Nanako was left speechless by the look he gave her. His amber eyes, normally hard or blank, were soft and, dare she say affectionate as he looked down at her, a warm smirk on his face.

"Idiot," he dropped his head, resting his forehead against her own, "I wouldn't want it any other way."

* * *

**Let the romance officially begin! I know it was a bit of a slow build, but I feel like now there's a really solid foundation to Mikoto and Nanako's relationship. I'm excited to delve deeper into it with you guys now! Moving on, holly crap the response this fic got last chapter was amazing! Thank you everyone who reviewed, your words motivate me so much! I'd love to keep the momentum going with this chapter. Everyone please drop a review and tell me what you think of this chapter and the direction the story is going in! Talk to you soon!**

**Gally**


	8. Chapter 8

Nanako's eyes fluttered open just as the first ray of light came through her window. She groaned, rolling from her side to her back. A small smile reached her lips when the arm around her waist tightened in response. She tried to sit up, but that same arm stopped her movements.

"Go back to sleep," Mikoto groaned, pulling Nanako closer.

Nanako pursed her lips in amusement, reaching up and burying her hand in his mane of hair.

"You need to get up, everyone'll start waking up soon."

"It's still dark out," he rumbled back, and Nanako shivered slightly in response.

"The sun is coming up," she reasoned back, and finally Mikoto's eyes opened.

Sleepy amber eyes looked drowsily at her, and her smile grew slightly in response.

"Go on," she urged, and Mikoto huffed in response. Slowly, the red-head sat up, running a hand through his hair. Nanako's eyes roved over his bare back, raising her eyes to his only to see him smirking at her over his shoulder. She felt herself blush slightly at having been caught staring.

A quiet meow caught both their attention, and Nanako watched as Nori stood from where he'd been curled up at the foot of the bed, leaning back on his haunches in a deep stretch before making his way up the bed. Nanako sat up, picking up the calico when he was within reach and putting him on her lap.

Nori mewled happily, rubbing his face against his mistress's chin before turning in her arms to eye the red-head. Mikoto watched in amusement as Nanako cooed quietly to the cat, running her fingers through his soft fur. Nori squirmed in her lap, and she let him go. In seconds, the cat was sitting on Mikoto's legs, tail swishing behind him as he waited for the red-head to give him attention. Mikoto let out a huff of amusement, relenting and reaching out to scratch behind the calico's ear. A soft weight on his shoulder made him look down, and a small smile curled his lips when he saw Nanako leaning into him, dark red eyes eyeing the cat with affection.

"I seriously think he likes you more than me," she complained, though amusement coated her voice.

"Do you blame him?" Mikoto teased back, and Nanako shot him a dry look. He felt her shove him lightly.

"Get out of my room," she huffed, though when the red-head actually stood up, she had to busy her hands petting Nori to stop herself from reaching for him.

"You should get some more sleep," Mikoto said softly, leaning down and pressed a kiss to her temple. Nanako gave him a soft look, swatting him towards the door.

"Relax, I'm fine. _You_ get some more sleep," she assured, and with a nod Mikoto opened her door and slipped through, closing the door quietly behind him.

Nanako smiled at Nori as the cat meowed loudly, shushing him gently. If her new relationship with the Red King made anyone happy, it was undeniably the small feline in her lap.

It had been two weeks since that night on the roof when Mikoto convinced her to stay. And she was glad she had. The last two weeks, she'd progressively gotten to know the HOMRA boys better. The tension that had once plagued her interactions with them had disappeared, and was replaced now with an easy flow of energy. She was still quiet and reserved, but the boys had come to accept that. Nanako went out on patrol with them, ran errands with them, and bonded with them. She may never have had a family before, but she'd come to think of the members of the red clan as something close to that.

Then, of course, there was Mikoto. While neither of them were comfortable openly showing the nature of their relationship with the rest of the clan yet, in times of privacy the red-head had been making his intentions infinitely clear. For example, last night, after everyone had gone to bed and Nanako had started to drift off, she'd been roused by her door opening. She'd known who'd entered her room before he'd even opened the door, and she scooted over to make room for Mikoto when he pulled the sheets back in slipped in behind her. She'd shivered at the feeling of his lips on the back of her neck, and grunted in annoyance when she felt him smirk against his skin. That aside, she slept like a baby with him in the room.

The first time they'd slept in the same bed, they had been in his room and she'd been trying to leave when he pulled her down and stretched himself out over her, drifting off in seconds even as she fumed. Of course, she hadn't actually been angry, only gripped by a soul chilling fear that she would hurt him if she fell asleep.

And Mikoto, despite his appearance as a lazy, short-tempered king, had calmly dissuaded her fears. He'd shushed her protests by pulling her to his lips, kissing her thoroughly until she'd stopped trying to pull back to smack him and instead buried her hands in his hair and allowed her body to melt into his.

'_Don't worry,' he'd mumbled against her lips, 'I burn too hot for you to hurt me.'_

_She'd shot him an unconvinced look, 'That's not how it works.'_

'_Nana,' he'd chastised, and said girl glared at the nickname, 'my head is full of fire. Any nightmare that slipped in would only burn.'_

And he was right. In the past two weeks, they'd shared a bed at least five times, and she had yet to wake up to the man screaming in terror.

Then there were the other things. The handful of times he'd stopped her when no one was around, only to press her against the wall and kiss her till her head spun. Or the way his hand would brush lightly against her when he passed. His gestures were small and subtle, but she cherished them none the less.

Nanako swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stretching her arms up over her head until she heard a pop. She needed to go back to her apartment today to get a few things, and she figured she mind as well go do it now so she had the rest of her day to do as she liked. She'd promised Anna she'd take her to the zoo this week, and today was as good a day as ever.

Nanako padded down the stairs quietly, Nori on her heels. The calico meowed loudly as she opened the door to the kitchen, propping it open for the cat to get in and out. Nanako scooped up the calico, putting him on the kitchen island, if Izumo saw he'd kill her, and went about preparing the feline's breakfast. Once she put the dish down on the counter and Nori was happily tucking into his meal, Nanako went back upstairs to take a shower.

She took her time showering, washing and conditioning her long hair carefully. By the time she reentered her room toweling off her wet hair, Nori was asleep on her pillow. She smiled at the sight, making sure her door was locked before dropping her towel and beginning to dig through her dresser. Before long she was in her normal black jeans and black sweater, and she sat down on her bed to pull on her boots. Once that was done, she grabbed a hair tie and went back to the bathroom to pull her hair back into its normal bun in the mirror.

She'd just finished smoothing down the few stray hairs that wouldn't pin back in the bun when the door opened. Dewa let out a noise somewhere between a choke and a gasp, throwing his hand up over his eyes.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see anything!"

Nanako smiled slightly at the sight, letting out an amused grunt. Hearing the noise, Dewa dropped his hand, a slight flush on his face as he grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry Chisaka-san," he smiled sheepishly, "I should've knocked, it's just no one's usually up this early."

"It's fine Dewa-san," she assured, leaning her hip against the counter as she looked at him, "I'm done anyway."

"Oh, right," he nodded, moving to the side so she could slip by him.

"You're up earlier than usual," he said conversationally as she moved past him.

"I promised Anna I'd take her to the zoo today and I need to go get a few things from my apartment first," she called over her shoulder as she disappeared into her room. A few seconds later she reappeared wearing her long black coat, Nori wrapped around her ankles.

"I see," Dewa nodded with a smile, "want some company?"

"That's alright," she reached down and picked up Nori, "take your time getting up. I'll only be an hour or so."

Dewa nodded, waving her off before slipping into the bathroom as she descended the stairs. When she reached the second-floor landing, she carefully opened one of the doors. Inside, the room was decorated in reds and frills befitting of the little princess sleeping soundly within. Nanako walked forwards silently, putting Nori down on the pillow. The cat curled around Anna's head instantly, purring quietly as he snuggled into the pillow.

Anna let out a content sigh at the sound, shifting slightly in her sleep but not waking up. Nanako smiled at the sight, leaving the door cracked slightly on her way out in case Nori wanted to get out later on. She took note of Mikoto's closed door to the left of Anna's room, and hoped he'd been able to get back to sleep after returning to his room.

The air was still cool when Nanako stepped outside. Spring was well underway, but the mornings and evenings still got cold. Nanako flipped the collar of her coat up, tucking her chin in to keep her face warm.

It'd been well over a week since she'd last returned to her apartment, and she hoped none of her plants had died. Lost in her thoughts as she was, she almost didn't pick up on the pair of eyes peering closely at her from above.

Nanako paused in her steps, looking up at the power lines over her head. The green parrot staring back at her just blinked.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Nanako raised a brow in question, and the parrot cocked its head. Before her eyes, the bird's light blue eyes shifted to a bright green.

"I am a fan of your work," a deep voice spoke up, the parrot's bill moving with its speech.

Nanako was surprised by the voice, but kept her surprise under lock and key.

"And you are?" she asked instead.

"I am Hisui Nagare, the fifth and Green King," the bird cocked its head the other way, "and you are Chisaka Nanako, beta class strain and assassin."

Nanako pursed her lips but said nothing.

"People call you a shinigami. That's quite a title," the parrot flapped its wings slightly, sending a flurry of green feathers down.

"Would you like to see why people call me that?" she growled, and she got the impression that where ever he was, the Green King was laughing at her.

"I already have," the parrot dropped off the powerlines, coming to sit on the bike rack just in front of her, "I was very impressed by your performance against the Blue Clan."

"Tell me," Nagare continued, "would you like to get revenge on the Gold King?"

Nanako froze, her blood red eyes locking on the bird.

"Do not speak of things you do not understand," she warned, "or I'll turn your pet into dinner."

Kotosaka let out a startled squawk, taking flight and returning to the powerlines.

A chuckle came out of the bird, and Nanako had to stop herself from scowling.

"I see you are not yet ready to hear my proposition."

"I want no part of your schemes," she cut off, and the bird went quiet for a second before Nagare continued to speak.

"You will, but for now I'll leave you with a sign of my good will. You don't know it, but a hit was put on you," the parrot raised its right wing, pointing down the street.

"In approximately one minute two black suvs will come from that direction. They contain eight members of the gang Tatsu. They plan on killing you in retaliation for assisting HOMRA in killing their business partner Mori Hayate."

Nanako's eyes widened, and the sound of an engine revving made her tear her eyes away from the parrot. Her eyes locked onto the first of two black vans to come sliding around a corner two blocks up, red eyes watching as the parrot took flight, the Green King's voice drifting down to her one last time.

"Good luck, Chisaka-san."

* * *

Kusanagi's PDA ringing was barely audible over the chatter in the bar. Kamamoto had just bought a new driving game, and the boys had gathered around the TV for the day to try it out. Anna and Tatara sat at the bar, drinking juice while Mikoto sat smoking with his eyes closed a few stools down. On the other side of the bar, Izumo stood with a clipboard in hand, taking inventory.

The blond put the clipboard down when his PDA went off, fishing the device out of his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Kusanagi."

Izumo's eyebrows shot up, surprise coloring his voice, "Seri-chan, what a pleasant surprise."

Mikoto opened his eyes, and Izumo met his king's eye as he listened to the Scepter 4 officer.

"I see," he said lowly, and Tatara's brow furrowed in concern at the look on Izumo's face.

"Right. Thank you, Seri-chan. I will."

As soon as Izumo hung up, Tatara leaned forward, "What's wrong?"

Izumo took a cigarette out of the pack he kept in his breast pocket, lighting it with a snap of his fingers. His eyes drifted over to Mikoto, the red-head's shoulders stiff with tension as he waited for his friend to speak. While Izumo had seen no solid proof, he suspected his king's relationship with Chisaka Nanako was anything but platonic- which is why he was careful how he worded his next statement.

"It seems Nanako got herself into a bit of trouble."

* * *

Nanako let out a pained groan as she finally collapsed to the ground. She'd scared more than a few people stumbling through the city bleeding, and had used up what marginal amount of energy she had left to get here. The old observatory was as solid under her feet today as it was the day she first tasted freedom.

She knew she should have gone back to bar HOMRA, both for her health and because she knew by now her little display had been noticed and it would be obvious to anyone who knew of her that she was responsible. Hell, even her apartment would have been a better option. Alas, when she'd thought about curling up and letting sleep wash over her while her body mended itself, she'd wanted to be nowhere but here. The city below her shone in the mid-afternoon sun, and the sight helped eased the tension in her chest.

She'd escaped the scuffle relatively unscathed. She was bruised all over, and had gotten a rather large cut on her arm from a bullet that had managed to skim her, but otherwise she was fine. She dug her pack of cigarettes and her lighter out of her jacket pocket, shaking one out and lighting it with practiced motions. She tilted her head back, leaning it against the wall behind her and looking up at the clouds.

This was exactly what she'd feared would happen. All she could think was thank god Dewa hadn't come with her, or else the black-haired man probably would have gotten injured. If he'd gotten hurt because of her, she wouldn't have been able to forgive herself.

She took a deep drag, letting the smoke curl down deep into her lungs before letting it out. She'd left the intersection the Tatsu members had attacked her in a bullet riddled mess. All eight men were dead, some killed more violently than others, but all dead. Worse yet, she knew that wouldn't be the end of it for her. The leader of the gang Tatsu had been close with Mori, the two both business partners and friends. Well, as close to friends as those two sociopaths could be.

Tatsu would be after her now. They wouldn't stop until they killed her or she killed them. Nanako took another deep drag, trying to get a grip on her racing thoughts. To make things more complicated, now she had to deal with the Green Clan lingering around. She didn't like that the Green King seemed to know so much about her. And worse than that, if Mikoto found out he'd lose his shit. Hours went by, and Nanako didn't move from her seat on the viewing deck. She didn't realize how long she'd been sitting there until she realized she'd finished her entire pack.

Nanako blinked down at the empty carton, a frown growing on her face, "Fuck."

"What?"

"Fuck!" Nanako cried, instinctually flicking a knife down into her hand and throwing it over her shoulder at the source of the voice in one quick motion.

Mikoto leaned slightly to the side, the knife breezing harmlessly past him to imbed itself almost to the hilt in the wall behind him.

"For god's sake Suoh," she barked, "don't fucking do that!"

But the anger she turned on him with drained away at the look on his face. The red-head was glaring at her the same way he glared at Munakata- fiercely and full of anger.

"What?" she scowled, watching as his eyes flared red.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Mikoto growled, and he watched as confusion crept into her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she bit back, matching his fire inch for inch.

"You turned a city block into a warzone then disappeared," Mikoto hissed, his boots thumping loudly as he walked across the metal deck towards her. Nanako didn't stand up though, in fact she turned her face away from him when he got close. The red-head frowned at that, moving till he was standing right in front of her.

"Clearly I didn't disappear since you found me," she mumbled, still looking to the side, though she snapped her mouth shut when he dropped to a crouch in front of her. She swatted his hand away when he tried to turn her head, but in an instant, he had her wrist in his tight grip and with his other hand gripped her chin.

Nanako frowned as his eyes scanned her face, taking in her split lip and bruised jaw, then going higher to the cut just above her right eye it that had clotted into what she was sure was an ugly mess by now.

Mikoto's eyes flashed with something she could only describe as anguish, releasing his grip on her chin to run his thumb over her cheek.

"Why didn't you come back to HOMRA?"

Nanako sighed, her eyes locking on a distant skyscraper over Mikoto's shoulder.

"I didn't want to trouble anyone."

Nanako yelped when Mikoto pinched her cheek hard, irritating her already abused skin further.

"Idiot," he scoffed, and finally Nanako met his eye, her dark orbs shooting hell fire at him. It brought him relief to know she was still as spirited as ever, even with all the bruises.

"What you're doing now is troubling people," he sighed, and Nanako gave him a confused look.

"Why?" she asked, and Mikoto almost rolled his eyes.

"With all the damage that was left behind, some of the boys thought you might be hurt."

"Some of the boys?" she taunted, watching in amusement as Mikoto looked away with a scowl. He looked back at her after a second though, his eyes softening.

"Can you walk?" he asked, and Nanako peeled off her coat to see the state of her arm. It had long since stopped bleeding, and she could see the skin had started to heal around the edges of the wound. With the cut coming along as it was, she knew most her bruises would be just a minor annoyance by now.

"Yeah," she nodded, accepting the hand he offered her as she got up.

Once she was on her feet, she went to pull her hand back but Mikoto tightened his grip softly. She blinked, patiently waiting for him to speak. Mikoto's hand moved slowly from her wrist to her hand, tangling their fingers briefly before dropping her hand.

Nanako felt herself blush slightly as he stepped closer till his chest almost touched hers.

"When are you going to trust us?"

Nanako looked up at him, her eyes that normally made people shudder not fazing the red-head in the slightest. She huffed, meeting his gaze despite how flustered she felt.

"I'm working on it."

* * *

**That's another one! Please leave a review and tell me what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

The warehouse was dark and smelled like shit. Nanako stepped over limbs and needles and trash, dark eyes roaming over the bodies scattered around her. Just being here gave her chills, but it was necessary.

The warehouse was a hot spot for opium addicts on this side of the city, and she'd been here more than once for jobs to find targets. Not many yakuza were clean and fully-functioning after all.

She was looking for one gang member in particular this time- Fukuda Eiji, younger brother of Fukuda Eiichi. Eiichi was the public leader of Tatsu, but Nanako was familiar enough with the organization to know the two split their responsibilities almost evenly. It would be evenly if it weren't for Eiji's bad habit. The man had had a crippling heroin addiction since she met him almost five years ago, and she knew he was prone to run off on binges every so often.

She'd tracked Eiji to this warehouse before one of the handful of times his older brother had hired her to track him down. Normally, she wouldn't take missing person jobs, but Eiichi always offered her a ridiculous amount of money for it.

Even though most people she passed were half conscious to begin with, many still crawled away from the woman walking through them, the aura rolling off her making them shudder. Nanako spotted a familiar head of thinning red hair, and made a bee line for it.

"Sakai," she called, crouching in front of the man sprawled out on the floor. He was a regular here, and had often pointed out people to her in the past for a few yen. He let out a groan, but didn't respond otherwise. Nanako gripped his shirt in her hand, yanking him up. Her nose wrinkled at the smell wafting off of him, but she focused on bringing the man to.

"Sakai," she shook him lightly, and finally his eyes began to open.

"W-Who are-" his head lolled, and Nanako grabbed his chin with her free hand.

"Sakai, wake up," she said firmly, and finally his eyes opened enough to see who was in front of him.

"Chisaka?" he slurred, and Nanako nodded.

"Yup, come on Sakai I need to ask you something," she pulled him to his feet, and the red-head stumbled into her. Nanako pushed him straight, shaking him lightly again.

"Sakai, is Fukuda Eiji here?" she asked, and finally the red-head seemed to react. His head came up, and his blurry eyes narrowed as he tried to focus.

"Fukuda Eiji, why would I-"

"Don't play dumb with me Sakai," she growled, and Sakai finally seemed to realize he was treading on thin ice.

"Mm, I think I saw him last night. He wanted to know who he could pick up from."

"Good," she nodded, shaking him again when his head started to nod, "did he leave?"

"Don't think so," Sakai mumbled, "check the second floor. The room with the big window."

Nanako lowered him slowly back down to the blanket he'd been curled up on, and in seconds the red-head was out cold again. She sighed, but turned and continued on deeper into the warehouse. She found a decrepit metal staircase, and climbed the steps warily. She had to look into a few different rooms, and it wasn't until she looked in the last one that she saw a huge window, mostly shattered by this point, and a familiar shock of orange hair under it.

Nanako crossed the room with long strides, not wasting any time in hefting the man up.

"Hey," he slurred, but Nanako ignored him.

"Let's go," she grunted, slinging his arm over her shoulders and tugging him.

It took a lot of effort and an extra 2,000 yen to the cab driver, but finally Nanako got Fukuda back to her apartment. She left him on her bathroom floor while she went to hunt down the pair of handcuffs she'd bought for exactly this purpose a while back. She went back to Fukuda, and in a few quick movements she had him handcuffed to the pipe behind her toilet. This way, when the withdrawals hit him he with any luck he would vomit into the toilet instead of all over her floor.

Nanako squatted down in front of the still only half-conscious gang member, figuring he'd start coming down soon but seeing no harm in speeding things along. She raised her hand, and brought it down across his cheek with an echoing clap.

Fukuda lurched up, his disoriented eyes landing on her.

"Chisaka?" he squinted, and she knew when he realized what was going on by the way his back suddenly snapped straight.

"What the fuck?" he tried to lunge at her, only to be pulled back by the handcuff keeping him chained to the wall, "What the fuck is going on?"

"You and your brother tried to kill me," she cut off his rambling, and the orange-haired man's eyes widened, "in broad daylight no less. You know how I feel about drawing unwanted attention to myself."

Eiji pulled desperately against the handcuff, his eyes going slightly wild, "What were we supposed to do? You helped those HOMRA punks kill Mori. You know how close Eiichi was with him. We had no reason to think we weren't next!"

Nanako scoffed, standing back up. She turned to leave, and she heard Eiji pulling against the handcuff again.

"You can't just leave me here!"

"I can, and I am," she looked at him over her shoulder, "I need to know what you and your brother have planned, and you're no good to me high."

Fukuda snarled at her, squirming on the tile, "You fucking bitch!"

Nanako closed the bathroom door, muffling his cries. She walked over to her couch, sitting down with a thump. She was tired, she'd had to sneak out of HOMRA well after midnight so she was sure everyone would be asleep. She may be opening up to them, but they didn't need to know she was going to a drug den.

She'd went to another similar abandoned building before going to the warehouse, and considering she hadn't slept before leaving last night, she was going on well over 30 hours without sleep. Her body begged her to give in to the sleep tugging on her mind, even with the gang leader screaming obscenities in her bathroom. She was forced to stay awake though when her PDA started ringing. Nanako groaned, pulling it out of her coat.

"Hello?" she mumbled.

"Where are you?"

Nanako's back straightened at the sound of Mikoto's voice, he didn't sound amused.

"My apartment."

There was silence for a moment. She flinched when Fukuda let out a particularly loud shout, and hoped Mikoto wouldn't comment.

"What is that?"

No luck.

"The TV," she answered smoothly.

"What are you watching?"

Fucking bastard.

"Some war movie," she muttered after a moment.

Something crashed in her bathroom, and Nanako frowned. If that piece of shit ruined her bathroom so help her god she would-

"What the fuck is that?"

Nanako paused. He wasn't going to buy any false answer she gave; her best bet was just to get him off the line.

"I've got to go. I'll be around soon."

She hung up, sitting back with a sigh. Her hands dug into her coat, and in a few practiced moves she had a lit cigarette sitting between her lips.

"Fuck me," she groaned, taking a long drag. Being here without Nori wondering around felt odd, but she was glad he wasn't here with the chaos going on in her bathroom. The stress wasn't good for him.

She smoked the cigarette to the filter before sitting up to put it out in the ashtray on the coffee table. She pushed to her feet, shrugging out of her coat and throwing it over the couch. She crossed the room, suspicious of the lack of noise coming from her bathroom.

When she opened the door, Fukuda was leaning his forehead against the rim of the toilet, glaring at her.

"You can't do this to me," he growled.

Nanako almost rolled her eyes, "Except I am."

"Eiichi will find me," he hissed, though she noted a hint of panic in it.

"Not before our business is done," she replied smoothly, "Vomit in the toilet only. I'll bring you some water later."

"When I get out of here I'm going to-"

Nanako shut the door, walking back to her couch. She kicked her boots off and stretched out, closing her eyes. A deep sigh rattled her body, and in just a few minutes she was asleep.

* * *

She was jolted awake later by a banging on her door. She rubbed her eyes, glancing at a clock on her wall to see she'd been asleep for almost five hours. Besides the knocking, her apartment was quiet, and she figured Fukuda must have given up on screaming at some point.

Another loud knock echoed through her apartment, and Nanako scowled. She pushed slowly to her feet, rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the tension that had built up. Her bare feet padded quietly across the wood floor, and when she reached the door she looked through the peep hole.

On the other side of her door, with a look on his face that could peel paint, stood Suoh Mikoto with Totsuka right behind him. Nanako let out a curse.

As soon as she opened the door Mikoto pushed in. Tatara came strolling in behind him, closing the door softly.

"What's going on?" Mikoto questioned lowly, his eyes showing he was not at all amused with her.

"Nothing," she replied a little too quickly.

Amber eyes narrowed, "Bullshit."

"Ah, King," Tatara tried to reason, "let's just talk this through-"

A loud thud came from her bathroom, followed by a muffled voice.

"Help! I'm in here! That crazy fucking bitch chained me to the wall!"

Nanako sighed. Clearly no one felt like working with her today.

The HOMRA members stiffened in surprise at the enraged voice. Mikoto gave her a suspicious look.

"Who is that?"

"No one important," she replied smoothly.

Not believing her for a second, the red king brushed past her, his boots echoing loudly against the floor with each step.

Nanako rounded on the blond standing smiling behind her, "Any particular reason you brought him here, or is everyone just fucking with me today?"

Tatara held up his hands in a placating motion, "It's nothing like that, Nana. King was just worried, and so he asked me to take him here."

Nanako frowned. She guessed her apartment wasn't much of a safe house anymore if the entire red clan knew about it.

"Idiot," she hissed instead, "he's about to blow a gasket."

As if on cue, the sound of Fukuda's voice became infinitely clearer as Mikoto opened her bathroom door.

"Fuck!" Fukuda yelled at the sight of the red-head. He recognized the man as the Red King, Suoh Mikoto, and he knew he was in deep shit.

"Chisaka you fucking snitch," he yelled, "you're going to have the city's entire underground after you for this! You're gonna get ripped to shreds by-"

Mikoto swung the door shut, muffling the rest of Fukuda's threat. Seeing there was no way she wasn't going to get chastised, Nanako went and sat down on her couch. There was no reason she couldn't be comfortable while he did it.

"Who is that?" Mikoto called, his voice low and full of displeasure.

"Fukuda Eiji," she sighed, pulling her coat over to her to pull her pack out.

"Fukuda?" Tatara said in surprise, watching as Nanako lit herself a cigarette and sunk back into the couch. She looked pale, and the dark bags under her eyes weren't doing her any favors. She looked like she needed to sleep for a week.

"Isn't Fukuda Eiichi the leader of the gang Tatsu?" Tatara questioned.

Nanako nodded, the end of her cigarette glowing as she took a drag, "Yup."

"Isn't Fukuda Eiji his little brother?" he pressed, and again Nanako nodded.

"Why the fuck," Mikoto cut in, "is he handcuffed in your bathroom?"

"Because that little incident I had in City Center last week," she narrowed her eyes at him in challenge, "was because those two ordered a hit on me."

"Why is Tatsu trying to kill you?" Tatara asked, concern coloring his voice.

"Because I helped you kill Mori, and Mori and Fukuda were close. They thought I would turn on them next."

Mikoto paused. His eyes traced over the exhausted lines of Nanako's face, the way she was limply sitting on the couch. She had been out of it since he brought her back from the observatory last week, and it appeared it was because her mind was running with concerns over the Fukuda brothers.

The red-head frowned. Part of him felt responsible, since he was the one who forced her into helping them catch Mori in the first place. She'd warned him the life she'd led would follow her, and concern flooded him as he realized more of her old clients would likely turn on her. More so, he wouldn't be able to protect her if she kept running off the handle it herself like she was doing now.

"How did you get him?" he asked instead, and he swore he saw Nanako flinch for a second.

"I knew his haunts," she shrugged, "I just filtered through them till I found him."

"Nana," Tatara sat down next to her on the couch, ignoring the glare she shot him for the nickname, "why didn't you tell us? We would have helped you know."

Nanako looked away, eyes lingering on one of the paintings on the wall, "His haunts aren't the nicest of places. I didn't want to get any of you mixed up in it."

Nanako looked away from the disappointment swimming in Mikoto's eyes. She knew he wanted her to be more trusting of him and HOMRA, but there were certain parts of her life she wasn't willing to share quite yet.

"I just need to get him to tell me any plans he and his brother have in store for me," she sighed, taking a last hit of her cigarette before grinding out the rest in the ashtray.

"Why would he tell you?" Mikoto asked, sitting down in the loveseat adjacent to the couch and lighting up his own cigarette.

"Because I'm good at making people tell me things. And in the next few hours he's going to start craving again. He'll be jonesing so bad he'll tell me anything I want to know so he can get out and find a fix."

As if on cue, the sound of violent retching came from the bathroom.

"Or maybe it'll start now," Nanako raised an eyebrow, pushing to her feet. She went to the kitchen, opening her refrigerator and taking out a few plastic bottles of water. No way was she giving him anything made of glass.

"Craving?" Tatara blinked, watching Nanako walk back over with the water.

"Then he was high when you found him?" Mikoto asked, making Nanako pause on her way to the bathroom.

"Yeah," she answered cautiously.

"So, this haunt where you found him," Mikoto's eyes narrowed dangerously, "is somewhere he goes to get high?"

"Yes," she answered slowly. The anger that flared in him was palpable as the temperature in the room sky rocketed.

"You went to a fucking drug den by yourself?" he growled, getting to his feet and approaching till his chest almost brushed hers. Nanako looked up at him, glaring fiercely.

"I can take care of myself Suoh," she growled, and Mikoto's eyes glowed red for a second.

This god damn woman was going to be the death of him. Mikoto ground his teeth together as he glared down at her, Nanako's dark red eyes glaring right back. She disappears in the middle of the night, a reason enough for concern, and goes hunting through drug dens by herself to track down a gang member trying to kill her. She was so reckless it was like she was asking to get hurt.

"Idiot," he hissed, "are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Nanako scoffed, "What was he going to do, stab me with a needle? He was barely even conscious when I found him, he couldn't do anything. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure he's not throwing up on my floor."

With that, Nanako turned on her heal, striding over to the bathroom and slipping inside. Totsuka frowned as Mikoto's fist clenched, the red-head clearly not amused.

"King," he called quietly, and Mikoto's eyes slid over to him, "maybe it would be best if we left."

Mikoto's eyes slid back to the bathroom door and the sound of a muffled conversation drifting out from under the door.

"You go back," he finally replied.

"What about you?" Tatara cocked his head to the side.

A sigh left the king's lips, "I'll make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

Nanako squatted in front of Fukuda. The orange-haired gang leader had actually done what he was told and had managed to keep everything in the toilet, her floors safe for the time being. Sweat covered his face and his eyes were glassy, his head resting limply against the edge of the toilet. His uncuffed arm scratched at his arm, causing red welts to rise over the skin.

"Got anything to tell me?" she asked, and Fukuda's head rolled towards her. He didn't say anything, but his eyes narrowed. Nanako sighed, unscrewing the cap off of one of the bottles.

"Open your mouth," she instructed, bringing the bottle to his lips. She got him to take a few sips before he started to cough, and rocked back on her heals as she waited for it to pass.

"Please," he finally groaned, "just let me go. I won't even tell Eiichi. I just need to get out of here."

Nanako hummed, eyes taking in the puncture marks on his inner elbow. Some were old, but others were clearly fresh.

"I will if you tell me what I want to know," she replied, and the orange-haired man scowled.

"I can't," he finally replied.

"Can't or won't?" she shot back, and his eyes narrowed even more.

"I _won't_," he growled.

"Alright," she shrugged, getting back to her feet, "I'll check back on you in a few hours."

"Wait, Chisaka, don't-"

Nanako shut the door, muffled the rest of his sentence. She went back to the living room to see Mikoto stretched out on her couch, dozing lightly with a cigarette burning between his lips.

"Where's Totsuka?"

Mikoto opened his eyes, looking at Nanako. Her face was blank, but her eyes still held a hint of annoyance from their earlier argument.

"He went back to the bar," he replied. Nanako didn't move as he stood, dropping his cigarette in the ashtray as he went, and walked over to her. Now that they were alone, she felt acutely aware of how his presence filled the room. It made the hairs on the back of her neck rise and her heart race. How she'd become involved with such a formidable man was beyond her.

Mikoto didn't say anything when he stopped in front of her, just looked down at her with a frown. Nanako didn't move or speak, just met his gaze and waited patiently for him to say something.

Finally, he sighed, running a hand through his flaming hair, "Why do you have to be so reckless?"

Nanako almost smiled, "Because I don't want to get shot by some gang member walking down the street one day."

Mikoto's frown deepened, and Nanako felt a flicker of annoyance rise in her.

"I told you," she grunted, "that this would happen. That my past would follow me."

Mikoto paused, "And I told you to trust us."

"I'm trying to keep all of you safe," she growled, then froze when she realized how much she'd just admitted.

Warmth bloomed in Mikoto's chest. She was concerned about them. This crazy, head-strong woman who refused to let anyone see she cared was concerned that she'd hurt the members of HOMRA, or get them hurt. The corner of his mouth pulled up, deeply content to know they meant so much to her. He might still be annoyed she'd do something so reckless on her own, but with the knowledge of her true intentions, the anger that'd been simmering in him cooled slightly.

Nanako's eyes were locked on one of the windchimes hanging over her window, absolutely refusing to meet Mikoto's gaze. She knew she'd revealed a lot, more than she'd intended. She knew HOMRA was unopposed to her sticking around, and Mikoto was interested in her to a certain degree, but she didn't dare assume they cared about her. Because then she wouldn't be able to deny to herself that she cared about them too.

"Nanako."

She let out a small huff, but then slowly returned her eyes to his. Mikoto's eyes shone softly down at her, affection swimming in their depths. It made heat rise to her cheeks, and she fought the urge to turn away again.

A large, warm hand cupped her cheek, and Nanako leaned into his touch despite herself.

"How many times do I have to tell you," he rumbled, making Nanako shiver, "stop trying to do everything by yourself."

Nanako huffed, and Mikoto couldn't help but smile in response.

The sound of something breaking in her bathroom made them both blink.

"Fuck!" Nanako ripped herself away from Mikoto, rushing towards her bathroom. Behind her, Mikoto frowned as she slipped away, and he soon followed when he heard the door slam.

Nanako threw open the door, and Fukuda snarled at her.

He looked like shit. He'd gone slightly pale, a light sweat on his forehead, and she could see a slight tremor in his hands. He was seething, his brown eyes slits.

"Let me go Chisaka," he growled, the handcuff rattling against the pipe as he pulled against the restraint.

"Tell me what I want to know," she replied calmly, face blank as she looked down at him.

"Fuck you," he bit back.

Nanako frowned, squatting in front of him.

"Fukuda," she drawled, and she could see a shiver go down his spine, "don't forget, I have lots of ways to make you tell me."

She flexed her fingers, the joints cracking loudly. Eiji's face went white as a sheet, a small noise escaping his throat.

"That said," she reached around into the back pocket of her jeans, and pulled out a small bag. At the sight of the white powder inside, Fukuda straightened.

"I'm willing to give you something I know you want, in exchange for something you know I want," she shook the baggy lightly, and Fukuda leaned forward.

Brown eyes looked up at her, then away quickly, back to the baggy. He licked his lips, then looked wide-eyed at something over her shoulder. Nanako didn't turn, she could feel the heat rolling off of Mikoto from here. Clearly, he disagreed with her methods.

"What do you say?" she pressed, and she could see he was starting to consider.

"Your other option is my friend here burns this to nothing and I fuck your head up irreparably," she shrugged, watching as fear filled his eyes.

A small sneer twisted his face but it vanished as she lifted her hand.

"Wait," he gasped, and Nanako almost smiled. Instead she lowered her hand back to her knee.

"We planned one fail safe if the first hit didn't work," his eyes darted from her to the baggy then to the red-head, sweat on his brow.

"Which is?" she pushed, starting to get impatient.

"We hired another pro," he blurted.

Nanako froze. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head.

"You hired another assassin," she hissed, "to kill me?"

Fukuda nodded, leaning against the handcuffs again.

"The fuck else could we do? You won't fucking die."

Nanako almost laughed at that.

"Sorry to disappoint," she said instead. She leaned forward fisting his shirt in her hand and pulling him forward. It made his wrist cut painfully into the handcuff, and she heard his slight hiss of pain.

"Who did you hire?" she growled.

Fukuda pressed his lips together, clearly not willing to answer. Fine, she'd just persuade him.

"Suoh," she called, raising her hand holding the baggy in the air, "burn this for me please?"

She heard Mikoto grunt, then the rattle of the chain on his jeans as he stepped forward.

"Wait!" Fukuda yelped just before the red-head's fingers wrapped around the bag. Nanako lowered her arm, face blank but eyes burning in irritation. She released his shirt to roughly grab his chin, letting her nails dig into his skin.

"Who. The Fuck. Did you hire?" she grit, and she saw his Adam's apple bob before he finally opened his mouth.

"Chiba Giichi."

Nanako's heart stopped, then restarted at twice the speed. Chiba Giichi- a strain, an assassin, and the only man in the city Nanako was genuinely terrified of.

"Chiba…Giichi."

Mikoto frowned, watching as Nanako's hand began to shake slightly. He didn't recognize the name, but clearly she did. He could feel the unease radiating from her frame. In the blink of an eye, Nanako removed her hand from Fukuda's chin and gripped a chunk of his greasy orange hair. Then just as quickly, she'd smashed his head into the cabinet to her right, knocking the man out cold.

Nanako stood shakily, shoving the baggy back into her pocket and pulling out the handcuff keys instead. Fukuda slumped to the ground as soon as she unlocked the cuff, and she wasted no time in grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the bathroom. She made a point not to meet Mikoto's eye as she dragged the unconscious gang member past him.

"Nanako," he called quietly, but she ignored him.

"I need to go dump him somewhere," she replied instead, dropping him in the middle of her living room as she took a second to figure out the best place to leave him before the man came to.

"Nanako," Mikoto called more firmly, crossing the room to where she stood with a troubled look on her usually impassive face.

"Not now Suoh," she barked, surprising both of them with her sudden spike in anger.

Nanako gulped when a sudden, blistering heat filled the room. Mikoto's eyes had narrowed to slits, his displeasure at her attitude clear in the anger rolling off of him in waves. He might not be her king, and she might not be obligated to obey him, not that it was in her nature to do so anyway, but even she felt compelled to humble herself in the face of his rage. So of course, she narrowed her eyes right back and let her lip curl back in a sneer.

"Go back to your clan. I need to take care of this," she growled, reached down for Fukuda's arm again.

But before she could grip his wrist, two large hands gripped her shoulders and shoved her back. Her head smacked into the wall behind her, knocking the wind out of her and disorienting her for a moment. In that second, Mikoto surged forward, pinning her to the wall.

"_Enough_," he boomed, his voice rattling her to her core, "who's Chiba Giichi?"

Mikoto seethed as he looked at the woman in front of him. Had he not told her to stop doing this just a few minutes ago? To stop hiding behind a wall of false bravado and to just _let them help her_. The guarded, defensive look in her dark red eyes showed him his message clearly had not been received.

"He's no one," she mumbled, looking to the side.

She gasped when Mikoto shook her roughly. His face, normally devoid of emotion, was twisted in anger as he glared down at her.

"Who is Chiba Giichi?" he leaned in, so close he could feel each nervous gasp of air she took against his skin.

Nanako licked her lips nervously. There was no way she was getting out of this, and there was no way he was going to keep her around after this.

"Chiba Giichi is an assassin," she finally admitted.

"I heard Fukuda," Mikoto cut it, "why are you scared shitless of him?"

"I'm not-" Nanako cut herself off. Who was she kidding? Yes, she was scared shitless, and quite frankly Mikoto's lack of tact was only making the nervous churning in her gut worse.

"You know what," she growled, "fuck it. Yes, I'm afraid of him. I'm fucking terrified of him. And you know why? Because the man is a strain who can shape shift into anyone he touches. There's literally no way to see him coming."

A tremor shook her frame, "He's a fucking savage. He takes his hit's eyes, tongue and ears then leaves them to bleed out. And now he's going to kill me because of that bastard," she pointed to Eiji on the ground behind them, "and his asshole older brother."

Nanako was shaking, overwhelmed by a mix of anger and crippling fear. Chiba Giichi was after her, and she knew there was no way she was escaping. The man had a perfect record, he'd never failed to complete a job, and she knew she wasn't going to be the one to break his record.

"He's not going to kill you."

Nanako scoffed. Of course he would say that.

"Believe it or not Mikoto, but some things are out of your control. There's nothing on this earth that can keep me safe from him."

Mikoto was surprised by how resigned she sounded, and it made fear creep into his mind. Nanako, who was scared of nothing and brave enough to take on anything, sounded so resigned to her fate. Some of the anger boiling in his gut cooled, and he realized how tightly he'd been gripping her. He relaxed his grip on her arms, and he saw her shoulders relax immediately.

Nanako sighed as Mikoto ran his hands gently up and down her arms, sensing his apology for his rough treatment in the soft glide of his hands over her biceps.

"Chiba is not going to kill you," he restated firmly, and Nanako couldn't help but huff lightly. He might not show it often, but clearly some of Totsuka's optimism had rubbed off on the red-head.

"I didn't realize you were such an optimist," she smiled slightly at him, some of her anxiety ebbing at the look of firm determination on Mikoto's face.

A smirk curled Mikoto's lips, and he watched in satisfaction as a slight blush colored the strain's cheeks.

"Come back to HOMRA," he said lowly, leaning in to let his lips brush her neck, and his grip tightened involuntarily as he felt her shiver.

"Let us keep you safe," he further pressed, dragging his mouth up and pressing a slow kiss to her jaw. She was going soft under his ministrations, all the hardness she usually held in her frame draining away under his attention.

A breathy sigh left her lips, and Mikoto had to bite his tongue to stop the groan that wanted to escape him. Despite her cold attitude and intimidating aura, and despite the fact she seemed absolutely determined to push everyone away, he couldn't help but be drawn to her. There was just something about her that made him feel whole. That made him want to wrap her up in his arms and never let go.

"I'm going to get someone killed Mikoto," she whispered, and he could hear the sadness in her voice plain as day.

"Not if I can help it."

* * *

**Poor Nana just can't catch a break. Next chapter is going to feature a lot of interactions between Nanako and the rest of the HOMRA boys, plus some hot and heavy action with Mikoto. Please drop a review and tell me what you thought!**


	10. Chapter 10

"So how do you wanna play this?"

Yata grunted, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the alley wall. Nanako's eyes moved from him to Kamamoto, Chitose, and Dewa standing to her left. Her darks eyes then drifted right, out the mouth of the alley and to the shabby bar across the street. The Yotta Uma bar was old, and clearly hadn't seen a new coat of paint since it was opened. Alas, it was a favorite watering hole of members of Tatsu. It was Friday night, and she knew that there had to be at least a dozen gang members inside in addition to the establishment's usual sleazy clientele. A half dozen men stood outside smoking, two of which she recognized as Tatsu.

Nanako looked back at the vanguard, seeing him still eyeing the bar with a frown.

"Well?" she pushed. Yata shot her an annoyed look, but pushed up from the wall, swinging his bat over his shoulder.

"We go in and burn anyone in our way," he stated bluntly, and she felt a ripple of excitement go through the other boys. Nanako rolled her eyes- of course they would choose a plan without any tact. After all, it was the Red Clan's style to burn first and ask questions later.

"I figured," she grumbled as they began filing out of the alley. Dewa patted her on the shoulder with a knowing smile as Kamamoto and Chitose surged forward with Yata.

They hadn't even made it all the way across the street when the two Tatsu members locked eyes on her. They dropped their cigarettes, eyes going wide. While one turned and disappeared back into the bar, no doubt to get backup, the other pulled a handgun out of the waistband of his jeans and pointed it at her.

"Stop bitch!" he shouted, pulling back the hammer. Nanako only blinked, feeling more confident than she ever had before while looking down the barrel of a gun; after all, she'd never done it while surrounded on all sides by warm bodies pulsing energy, and who she knew were there for her. Not for her powers, or her expertise- they stood with her because they gave a damn about her. It was odd, and she was still getting used to it, but she couldn't deny the warm feeling in her chest when Yata pointed his bat at the gang member and barked,

"Get that bastard!"

They all broke apart as the sound of the hammer going off filled the air. Yata's bat connected with the man's wrist a moment later, the gun going flying to the side. The skater's fist connected with the man's face a moment later, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Nanako rushed past him, sending her boot into the solar plexus of the man just about to come rushing through the door. He went stumbling back, knocking into another man coming up behind him. Nanako shouldered her way inside, feeling Chitose at her back. He stepped up, a flame wrapped fist connecting with another man as he moved past her.

"Try to keep up Chisaka!" the brunette crowed as he dodged a fist. Nanako scowled at him, but her attention was caught by the gleam of metal, and she saw another man pull a gun out of his jacket. She thought he would aim at her, but when she followed his line of sight she saw his gun pointed at Yata. The vanguard, wrapped in a layer of bright flames and his bat whistling through the air, didn't seem to notice.

Nanako flicked her wrist, the familiar feeling of a knife settling in her palm seconds later. She pulled her arm back and checked her aim, then let the blade fly. The Tatsu member screamed as the blade went into his arm, the blade going clear through and only stopping when the hilt hit his flesh. The gun clattered to the floor.

Around her, people were throwing themselves into the fray. Most of them were Tatsu, but some were just people with a bone to pick with HOMRA. Those who wanted nothing to do with the fighting scrambled to get out before they got hit or the bar went up in flames. Looking at the HOMRA boys brawling around her, she figured there was a good chance that would happen soon.

"Leave a few alive," she yelled over the chaos, but she knew they heard her.

It only took them a few minutes to incapacitate everyone in the bar. It felt weird not delivering the final blow, but she knew killing wasn't HOMRA's usual style, and she would have to learn to respect that.

The five of them surrounded the three Tatsu members kneeling on the ground, all in various states of disrepair. One in particular stared straight at her, his one eye not swollen shut shooting daggers at her. Nanako crouched down in front of him, almost expecting him to spit on her with the amount of anger in his expression.

"Tell me about Chiba Giichi," she said flatly, her face blank and her eyes showing only a hint of annoyance.

"Fuck you," he spit, "you crazy cunt."

"Oi," Chitose barked, "that's no way to speak to a lady."

The gang member let out a bark of laughter, a sneer on his face, "_That_ is no lady. That's a fucking animal."

Nanako frowned, but otherwise showed no sign his words affected her.

"Tell me about Chiba Giichi," she repeated, bringing her right hand up to eye level and flexing her fingers till the joints cracked loudly. The gang member's eyes froze on the sight of her hand, some of the fight leaving him.

"Are you deaf too bitch," he growled, "I said I'm not telling you shit."

"Arai," the man kneeling next to him hissed, clearly more afraid of the assassin than his fellow gang member.

"Shut up," Arai barked, his eyes swinging back to Nanako's face.

"If you don't wish to speak of Chiba," Nanako drawled, "then tell me where your boss is."

All three men jerked straight at that, and she was surprised the blond on the end didn't try to make a break for it. He looked like he was about to pass out.

"Never," Arai growled.

Nanako looked over her shoulder. Yata was glaring daggers at the gang member, his bat glinting in the light. He looked down at her, and she watched as he dropped his chin slightly in approval.

"Very well," she sighed.

In moments, screams filled the air. Arai shook violently under Nanako's hand, his mind tearing at the seams under her power's hold. The blond at the end of the line finally broke, springing to his feet and making a mad dash for the door. Kamamoto had him on his back in seconds, leaning back over the gang member.

"What's the matter?" Kamamoto joked, "scared?"

Tears had begun to leak from the corners of Arai's eyes, his hands clawing desperately at Nanako's arm. The black-haired girl didn't move though, her dark eyes hooded as she concentrated. His pulse was racing, his heart beating at twice the speed it was supposed to. He was so close, if she just let a sliver more of her aura into his mind his heart would stutter out beneath her. And she wanted to. This man was a bad person, a bad person who called her a fucking animal. She was _angry_ and-

Nanako nearly jumped as a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Her head swung around, taking in Yata's grim expression. She knew what that look meant, so with a tsk of annoyance she relaxed her palm, cutting off the energy flowing out of it and releasing the gang member. He fell to the ground, still screaming and clutching his head, but still alive.

His comrades scrambled away from the screaming, withering body, their eyes wide in terror as they looked up at the strain.

"Is there anyone else who feels like being difficult?" she questioned lowly, her demon-like eyes boring into them. The two remaining gang members looked away nervously, shrinking back as she crouched in front of them again.

"What do you know about Chiba Giichi?" she asked, leaning in close.

"Fukuda-sama called him in last week," one whimpered, "he told Chiba that he wanted you taken out by the end of the month."

"Why?" Nanako asked. It wasn't unusual for an assassin to be given a time table, but hits on other pros were dangerous and timely and Fukuda knew that. It was more unusual than usual for Chiba to have been given a deadline on an assignment like this.

The man in front of her looked to the blond who'd tried to run earlier, finding no help from his petrified comrade. Nanako turned her eyes to the blond, who nearly yelped at her look. She fisted his shirt, yanking him forward.

"Fukuda-sama is getting in a special shipment at the end of the month!" he blurted, pulling against her hold.

"Oi, shut up!" the other man hissed at him, but the blond ignored him.

"No one has stepped up to take over Mori's territory. Fukuda-sama is getting a shipment of product twice the size of what he normally imports so that-"

"So that he can move into Mori's territory," Dewa cut him off.

Nanako watched as Yata reached down and yanked the Tatsu member out of her grip.

"That's HOMRA's territory you're talking about," Yata growled, "and if your boss thinks he can just move in we'll burn him so bad there'll be no ash left behind."

The blond whimpered as flames began to rise around the skater, the heat seeping into his skin. Nanako pushed back to her feet, taking note that Kamamoto's face had turned slightly wary as he looked at his partner. Clearly even the other HOMRA members were wary of Yata when his temper sparked like this. So, with that in mind, she stayed quiet as the gang member started screaming, the flames licking his skin leaving behind deep burns. Yata dropped him before it went too far, but even she flinched at the state he'd left the Tatsu member in.

"Che," Yata turned, stalking towards the door, "let's get out of here."

Nanako gave the Tatsu members one last look before following the HOMRA boys out. The night air was cool against her skin, and she took a deep breath. Her blood was still pumping with adrenaline, but the darkness and the cold were helping bring her back down.

"Fucking assholes," Yata scoffed, swinging his bat up over his shoulder.

"No need to get so upset Yata," she called.

Instantly, Yata turned on her, his eyes narrowed to slits.

"Don't tell me what to do," he barked, "those bastards are trying to move in on our territory. They have no right to disrespect Mikoto-san like that!"

"Suoh does not need you to protect his honor," Nanako replied, "he's a big boy he can do it himself."

Yata surged forward till his nose was an inch from hers, "Shut up. Just because you don't give a shit-"

"I don't give a shit?" she cut him off, eyes narrowing, "Those fuckers sicked the most dangerous man in the city on me. I'm probably going to be dead by the end of the week and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. So don't tell me I don't give a shit Yata. All I'm saying is don't lose your fucking head."

Silence fell over them. Yata's face had lost its some of its anger and around them the other boys stared at her in surprise.

"What?" she barked, and they all jumped.

"Chisaka," Chitose stepped forward, "Chiba isn't going to kill you. We'll all protect you-"

"Shut up Chitose," she hissed, "I'm not a member of HOMRA. If it came down to it don't pretend you wouldn't hang me out to dry. I know where I stand and I'm dealing with it."

Nanako clenched her fists. She was so angry, she was furious. These bastards, saying that they would protect her and getting her hopes up. As if they could.

"Where are you going?" Yata called as Nanako spun on her heel and heading down the street, in the opposite direction of bar HOMRA.

"Away," she called back, and in moments she had disappeared into the dark.

* * *

Nanako tipped her glass back, the liquor burning as it went down. She was wallowing, no question. She hadn't meant to lose her temper like that with the boys, it was just that Yata got on her nerves like no other sometimes and this whole business with Chiba made her feel like she was drowning and-

"Oi," she called, raising her glass when the bartender looked at her, "another."

The older man nodded, walking over and filling her glass with more dark whiskey.

Nanako had been to this bar many times. It was a regular haunt for criminals, including other assassins, and she was waiting for one criminal in particular tonight. A man she hardly knew but who knew Chiba better than anyone. It was a long shot, but he was her only shot at figuring out a way to stop the shape shifter.

She tipped more of the liquor down her throat, welcoming the burn it left in its wake.

The door opened, and her eyes drifted to the entrance. Immediately, she perked up. There, looking as unfriendly and annoyed as ever, was Chiba Ikki, the older brother of Chiba Giichi. Ikki was a thief, a damn good one too, and she'd worked with him once on a museum heist. Some yakuza had wanted a particular painting for his home, and he'd hired Ikki for the job, and her as his protection.

The man was older than her, probably in his late thirties, with dark brown hair that he wore smoothed back and grey eyes that made even her shiver. She doubted he remembered her, but when his eyes landed on her she saw a spark of recognition. She held up her glass and motioned for him to come over. To her surprise, the man scowled but did just that.

"Can I buy you a drink?" she asked when he was close enough, and Ikki nodded.

"Last I heard you'd turned and joined HOMRA," Ikki grunted as he pulled himself up into the bar stool next to her. Nanako made sure she kept her expression blank, not wanted to reveal how close to the truth that was.

"Not a chance," she said instead, raising her glass, "what do you want?"

"Whatever you're having's fine," he replied, and Nanako flagged down the bartender. When the older man had a drink in front of him, she took a moment to pull out a cigarette and light it, taking comfort in the familiar feeling of smoke curling down into her lungs before getting to the point.

"I won't beat around the bush," she exhaled, "neither of us have the patience for that."

Ikki grunted his agreement, taking a sip of his drink.

"The leader of the gang Tatsu hired your brother to kill me," she said, and for possibly the first time since she'd known him she saw surprise enter Ikki's eyes.

"Then you're already dead."

Nanako swallowed the lump in her throat at his words, taking another drag.

"I'd like to avoid that," she replied, tapping the ash on her cigarette off into a nearby ashtray.

"And you think I know some trick you can use to beat him," Ikki scoffed.

Nanako knew Ikki held no love for his younger brother, in fact he hated when people even referred to them as such. Alas, he was a seasoned criminal, just like her, and she knew any chance she had at getting his help would come at a price.

"I'd owe you a favor," she added, taking a large sip of her drink.

That seemed to peak Ikki's interest. After all, in their world a favor was no small token.

"I do have a job coming up I could use some help with," he drawled, and Nanako knew he was gauging her reaction. She kept her face neutral.

"What kind of job?" she asked, and the way the corner of his mouth went up in a smirk made her fight down a shudder.

"Well since you asked…"

* * *

When Nanako stumbled back into the bar at nearly 3 am, drunk off her ass, she didn't expect anyone to be awake. Of course, she was wrong.

She didn't sense him at first. In fact, she didn't realize he was there until she stumbled past the couch and saw a pair of amber eyes, glaring at her. Nanako ground to a stop, blinking in surprise.

"Why are you awake?" she mumbled, praying he'd not be in the mood to talk. She knew she should have gone back to her apartment. She got drunk like this so infrequently, and more so no one in HOMRA had seen her inebriated.

But when she'd finally stumbled out of that bar, wanting nothing more than to pass out and sleep till noon, instead of thinking of her bed in her apartment, she thought of the one she had at HOMRA. She'd thought of waking up with Nori on top of her feet, and of a cup of Izumo's coffee. She was sure she'd be scolded for running off, but surprisingly that still sounded better than waking up in a cold, empty apartment.

She blinked slowly, wary of Mikoto's silence. His face was blank, but in was clear in his eyes he wasn't amused.

She huffed, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You seriously ran off to get drunk?" he said lowly, and Nanako was surprised he could tell but then again, she doubted it was the kind of thing that would get past him.

"Not specifically," she mumbled. She wasn't lying. Soon as she'd agreed to help, Ikki had brought her up to speed. Their employer was someone she was familiar with, a man known as the Dealer. It was an apt title. The man dabbled in the sale of every illegal product she could think of; guns, drugs, even people. He'd hired her once about two years ago to take out members of a gang who robbed one of his warehouses, and had paid her extra to bring the goods back. Of course, she hadn't realized the goods were a half dozen crates of stolen army weapons until she had killed the gang members and opened the crates. She'd demanded extra for the trouble, and he'd done so with no argument.

The man now suspected one of his higher associates, one in change of the sale of the majority of his narcotics, was skimming. The Dealer was not a rash man though, and before he ordered a hit or the like he wanted proof.

Ikki had been hired to break into the man's office and burn a copy of the man's hard drive onto a flash drive. His main issue was that there was only one key to the office, and the man kept it on him at all times. More so, the office was at the back of a club with twenty of his men between Ikki and the door. Her job was simple really- get the key and keep the man occupied and out of his office while Ikki did his part. Nanako knew what Ikki expected when he said to keep the man occupied. And in exchange, he'd help her kill Chiba Giichi.

Of course, this had all been discussed over just shy of two bottles of whiskey.

The chain on his jeans rattled as Mikoto pushed to his feet. Nanako swayed slightly looking up at his face when he came to stop just short of her. She couldn't deal with him right now, just thinking of what she would have to do two nights from now and how she might ruin whatever this _thing_ was between them doing it.

But she was desperate, and despite HOMRA's promise to help and protect her, Nanako knew this was her problem first and foremost. She'd rather they not involve themselves, god knew she was probably going to get killed doing this, and there was no need for them to put themselves in harm's way too.

"Where did you go?" Mikoto's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, her sluggish mind kicking back into gear.

"A bar," she replied, starting to take a step back from him. Mikoto's hand snaking around her elbow stopped her.

"Where?" Mikoto pressed, and Nanako frowned at him.

"The factory district," she replied honestly.

"With who?"

"No one," she replied immediately.

Mikoto's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything in response. She knew he didn't believe her, but he didn't look like he was going to press her anymore and for that she was grateful.

"Do you need help getting upstairs?" he finally sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Nanako blinked in surprise, his voice having softened significantly.

"No but," she bit her lip, never normally so bold but drunk enough to not care, "can I stay with you tonight?"

Mikoto's eyes softened. His grip on her elbow vanished, only to be replaced by the feeling of a strong arm looping around her waist. Nanako looked up into his eyes, the orbs that had reminded her of a churning volcano only moments ago now as calm and gentle as the sea.

"When you're ready," he mumbled into her hair as he bent down to lean his forehead against her temple, "tell me what's going on."

Nanako's breath hitched. Of course, of course he knew there were things she wasn't telling him, but of course he had to be a frustratingly good person and not press her.

Mikoto tightened his grip when a sigh shook the woman's frame, and a moment later she melted into him. The fact that she was even willing to lean on him like this showed how far she had come since arriving at HOMRA all those weeks ago. How far they had come since that first time he'd kissed her on the roof.

"Okay," she relented, "I promise, when I have a better handle on it, I'll tell you everything."

Nanako smiled at the grunt he gave in response, letting him pull her along when he pulled lightly on her waist. His arm stayed wrapped around her, steady as a rock, as they climbed the stairs and went into his room.

As soon as the door clicked closed behind them, Nanako shrugged out of her coat, throwing it over the back of the leather armchair in the room. Though she didn't know it, Mikoto's eyes were glued to her figure as she shrugged out of the rest of her clothes.

With each article of clothing she threw over the armchair, he watched as dozens of tattoos and, hidden beneath, even more scars were revealed. Mikoto thought she was beautiful. Even if she didn't have perfectly smooth skin, and had more tattoos than a yakuza, and hid every inch of herself in shame and self-consciousness, he thought she was beautiful. Her body was as womanly as any others, and odd as it was he loved her eyes. Most people who looked at them thought of demons and felt fear, but red had always been a part of him, and when he looked at them he felt nothing but affection. When she was down to just her black panties and matching bra, he couldn't help but put his hands on her.

Nanako shivered as his large, calloused hands slid across her hips before rising and settling on her waist. If she was in a clearer state of mind, she'd be embarrassed as she pressed herself back against him, letting her head roll back and baring her throat like a needy cat. She bit her lip at the feeling of Mikoto's fingers skimming up her stomach, up between the valley of her breasts, before brushing lightly against her collarbones.

"You're never so affectionate," he rumbled lowly, pressing his lips to her neck and reveling in the moan she gave in response.

"Are you complaining?" she shot back, reaching up and burying her hand in his hair.

The hum he gave in response made her breath hitch.

"Not at all."

* * *

Nanako jerked awake at the sound of her door slamming open against the wall. Immediately her head pounded in response to the sound and the sudden movement.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Yata roared, stomping over to her bed with a look on his face that could peel paint.

Nanako thanked her lucky stars she'd woken up an hour earlier and dragged herself upstairs to her room. Just the thought of the rampage Yata would have gone on if he'd found her bed empty this morning, or worse if he'd found her in Mikoto's, made her head ache more than it already did.

"Shut up," she groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.

She hadn't had a hangover like this in at least a year, and hadn't dealt with the headache any better then. Mikoto had actually had the nerve to chuckle when she'd clumsily sat up earlier, cursing and groaning as she came to. He'd brushed the hair out of her face and given her an affectionate look.

'_Seems there's actually something you're not good at_.'

She would have hit him for that comment, but she'd felt even worse then than she did right now, and frankly it would have been too much effort.

"Don't tell me to shut up," Yata growled.

Nanako kicked the blankets off her legs, swinging her legs around to sit on the edge of the bed.

"You can't go off about something like that then just disappear," Yata grit, and Nanako could feel the anger rolling off of him.

"Well I did," she sighed, narrowing her eyes at him.

Yata sputtered, then the next second he was in her face.

"We were out all night searching for you. We actually thought Chiba had found you. Do you honestly not give a single shit about what you do to the people around you?" he seethed, and Nanako stiffened.

"It was not my intention to worry you," she replied quietly, pushing to her feet.

Despite the anger still coursing through him, Yata couldn't help but look away with a slight flush as she entered his personal space.

"I know I'm not easy to deal with."

Yata blinked, swinging his face back around. Nanako was looking at the wall, a frustrated look on her face.

"I hope you believe me when I say I'm working on it," she finally met his eyes with a huff, "trusting you guys, that is."

"I just," a scowl marred her features, "I do things alone because that's how I've always had to do it."

Yata blinked in surprise. Nanako looked surprisingly earnest, despite the slightly annoyed look on her face. He got the feeling she wasn't normally so forthcoming with her thoughts, and swallowed down the immediate sarcastic retort he wanted to give.

Fact of the matter was, he liked Nanako. She may not be an official member of HOMRA, but she had been there for almost two months now, and each day she'd been making an effort to be more open with them. She still grated on his nerves a lot of the time, but he'd be lying if he didn't say she was a friend, and someone who's wellbeing he was concerned about.

Nanako had only told a few of the members about Chiba, and even then, she'd kept it under wraps. So, for her to suddenly go off about how she would be dead soon and there was nothing they could do about it, it'd made his gut twist into knots. And when she'd disappeared into the night, and they hadn't been able to find her, he'd been scared.

Hence his anger when he'd burst into her room and found her passed out without a care in the world. Now though, he could see she looked haggard. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face looked gaunt, her face paler than it normally was. Clearly, her night had not been smooth sailing.

"What happened?" he asked instead.

"Nothing," she shot back, "I met with someone who might be able to help me, that's all."

"That's good at least," Yata's brows furrowed at the look of subtle frustration on her face.

"What?" he pushed, and Nanako's eyes drifted back over to him.

"It's nothing," she repeated, "I was just out late and my head hurts."

Nanako blew out a breath as she lowered herself back down onto her bed, telling the storm was over.

"Give me two more hours," she called as she laid back down, throwing the blankets over herself, "then I'll make an effort."

* * *

**Nanako's a light weight haha! I hope you guys liked this chapter! If anyone read my most recent update of _Paper Crown_, then you saw my explanation for my much slower updating (aka my starting grad school), but I'm trying my best to keep up with my active fics. I still love this story so much though, so please no body think I'm going to abandon it, no matter how long I go between updates! Can't wait to hear your guys' thoughts on this chapter!**

**Gally**


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